Snowflakes kept falling, and the world was shaking with it.
Liu Tingjie was riding a horse, followed by eight thousand troops and nearly ten thousand prisoners. They dragged grain and grass and walked slowly like a long dragon under the supervision of the Ming army.
The further north you go, the worse the weather and the worse the environment.
Occasionally, even after walking for more than a hundred miles, there is no village in sight. Instead, there are groups of wild wolves and sparse wild dogs, constantly looking for food.
Although it is difficult, Liu Tingjie is very satisfied with the current situation.
Before, he was just a general with hundreds of people in the entire Ming Dynasty, but now he is the commander of a battalion, with a general rank and a high position of authority.
"I don't know when King Yu will ascend the throne..."
Looking at the desolate scene in the distance, he rode his horse and muttered.
Compared with the Manchu Qing Dynasty or the Nanjing court, King Yu's power was the weakest. It was an extremely risky move to take the Northern Expedition to invade the country.
However, King Yu succeeded, and this stirred up a lot of excitement in his heart.
Obviously, King Yu is the chosen one. Especially when Nanjing is about to be unable to hold on, it is only a matter of time before King Yu ascends the throne and proclaims himself emperor.
"I can finally go home."
The lieutenant on the side breathed greedily, and his whole body was full of energy:
"His grandma, a group of people regarded King Yu as a fool. They only wanted food and people. They never thought that we were back."
"Hmph!" Liu Tingjie heard this with a bit of pride on his face: "I'm going to Yulin today to take care of those itchy guys. I'll catch up just in time."
As a native of Yulin, Liu Tingjie knows everything about Yansui Town, that is, Yulin.
This group of people were rebellious and had always regarded Yansui Town as their own territory. When Li Zicheng's army swept across the country, it was difficult for them to surrender.
Obviously, King Yu had become the enemy in their eyes at this time, and he made probing moves one after another.
"Commander, if we follow King Yu, we will have a bright future..." the deputy general said without hesitation.
"Don't worry, I'm not stupid!"
Liu Tingjie curled his lips and said casually: "In the past, my family was not ranked in Yulin. Now, with Prince Yu, I can still tell the difference between the important and the minor."
"That's good!" The deputy general breathed a sigh of relief.
Their mission for this trip, King Yu made it clear before leaving, was to rush to Yulin, not only to comfort the border troops and replenish the money and food they owed, but also to completely clean up the border town before leaving.
To put it bluntly, it means integrating and reorganizing, eliminating the old and young, cleaning up the farmland and border fields, and changing the structure of the border army.
The rotten and overwhelmed frontier army system needs to be completely rebuilt, and they are the driving force behind it.
At the window when King Yu was about to ascend to the throne, Liu Tingjie also realized deeply that this was a critical period for him, and his future promotions would depend on this impression.
The vast army, crushing the snow and killing wild animals along the way, finally arrived at Yan'an Mansion.
From then on, Liu Tingjie stopped completely and asked Yulin to come and greet him in person on the pretext of inconvenience in transporting food.
The eagerness for money and food, especially Liu Tingjie, one of their own, made them forget themselves and couldn't wait to obey, far away from their base camp.
"Haha, Lao Liu, I didn't expect you to get up, not bad!"
"Tingjie, thank you for your hard work. You are indeed a good man from Yulin..."
Facing Liu Tingjie's greeting, the generals looked happy, and they came one after another with great pride, showing off their airs and feeling quite proud.
It's no wonder that they were so proud. Almost all of the people sitting in the queue were veterans of the army, deputy commander-in-chief, and prosperous in Yulin.
You see, King Yu just delivered the food and grass without daring to say no.
In the face of everyone's attitude, Liu Tingjie kept his attitude very low, and kept flattering, making the host and guest enjoy themselves.
But it makes me very frustrated.
When everyone was drunk, Liu Tingjie quickly ordered:
"The snake headed south without a head. Just when these guys came to the door in person, Yulin is now at our mercy..."
So, that night, thousands of troops marched north to Yulin, completely overthrowing Yansui Town in the name of rectifying military affairs.
"We follow the order of King Yu and open the door quickly!"
Under Yulin City, traces of the war still remained, and an army came impatiently, waking up the entire Yulin City.
Immediately, this army, which followed the king's order, quickly ordered its troops: each person was given five taels of silver.
This news spread throughout Yulin Town.
For a time, the crowd was excited and the reputation of King Yu spread rapidly.
For two or three days in a row, there were only more than 5,000 people on the roster who came to apply.
In other words, Yansui Town, which once had 50,000 soldiers, is less than 10% of its peak strength in the 880 kilometers of land from Huangfuchuan Fort in the east to Huamachi in the west.
There are loopholes in the defense line. It is no wonder that the Tatars are able to march straight in and constantly harass Shaanxi Province.
"The king ordered that three households in Yulin must send out one soldier and pay ten taels for their settlement..."
"Wang ordered, the Yulin border army will be dismissed from the old and weak..."
"King's order, from now on, Liu Tingjie, the commander of Mingjie Battalion, will take over as the commander-in-chief of Yansui..."
"Wang Ling, Wang Ling..."
Military orders were issued one after another, and the people in Yansui Town had no choice but to accept them.
The military leaders went to Yan'an, and the soldiers were bribed. Yansui Town became a toothless tiger, allowing others to bully them.
Just after controlling the situation, Liu Tingjie did not dare to delay, took the generals hostage, and arrived at Yulin City amidst a chorus of curses.
"Liu Tingjie, you are selling your land for glory, are you still from Yulin?"
"Hmph, your official supplement is all the blood of Yulin people..."
Faced with the insults, Liu Tingjie did not change his expression, but kept sneering:
"Shibo, Shixiong, times have changed now. It is King Yu's turn to rule Shaanxi. How can the border army remain the same as before?"
"Today, Yulin and even Yansui Town are all decided by me, Liu Tingjie. You'd better be careful and don't scold me again in the future!"
His butt determines his head, and he is receiving military pay from the King of Yu. Naturally, he no longer regards himself as a Yansui native. Similarly, he has no interest in the Nanjing court.
His power is almost completely dependent on King Yu, and he naturally does things to King Yu.
Sitting on the wolf-skin chair, Liu Tingjie's eyes were reddish. He had coveted this position for many years and finally got it.
"Land reform, land reform!"
Stroking the increasingly stiff chair, Liu Tingjie murmured softly, his face solemn.
Compared with inland areas, land annexation in border towns is more severe.
The land distributed to military households since the reign of Taizu in the early Ming Dynasty had been divided up as early as the Jiajing period, and all military households were completely reduced to tenant households.
Not only did they have to fight, but they also had to farm for the general banner, hundreds of households, and thousands of households above. They almost completely relied on the salaries issued by the court to survive.
Even so, most of them were expropriated and countless wives were sold in exchange for their children.
"It's difficult!"
Liu Tingjie rubbed his eyes. Even though Yulin's soldiers and horses were extremely weak, if they were careless, the consequences would be disastrous.
"Cut out flesh to treat sores, you have to do it!"
Sighing, Liu Tingjie looked firmly.
For the sake of his official position and future, he had to sacrifice his interest in challenging Yansui officer.
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