Kang Yingqian wanted to go to Nanchang, and he and Liu Zhaosun would help each other and develop their ambitions in Jiangxi official circles.
This is of course wishful thinking.
During the Wanli dynasty, the local clan gentry in Jiangxi was no less powerful than the Jiangnan Donglin and Southwest chieftains.
The folk customs of Gan area are strong and fierce, which is obvious to all.
In the twenty-eighth year of Wanli, Zhu Yijun sent mining gangs Pan Xiang and Li Dao to Jiangxi, but they were almost beaten to death by the locals.
When Liu Wei was quelling the chaos in Sichuan, he had a close relationship with the Qin family, the chieftain. It would be a good idea to go to Sichuan and recruit a white army to farm in Chengdu.
However, he quickly gave up this idea.
Two years later, a large-scale rebellion will break out in the southwest - the She'an Rebellion.
This rebellion, which affected the southwest of the empire for more than ten years and consumed countless human and financial resources in the southwest provinces, almost coincided with the rise of the Hou Jin Dynasty and lasted until the Chongzhen period.
The Ming Dynasty fell into a desperate situation of fighting on three fronts: rogue bandits, She'an, and Jiannu.
Liu Zhaosun tried his best, but he couldn't stop Xianglan Qi, and naturally he couldn't stop Nurhachi.
The annexation of Liaodong by the Later Jin Dynasty is the general trend, and it cannot be easily changed by one or two time travelers or similar time travelers, whether he is Liu Zhaosun or Yuan Chonghuan and Xiong Tingbi.
Compared with the huge unconscious interest groups, the power of an individual is too small. For example, when a mortal faces the evil god Cthulhu, even though the latter is chaotic and unconscious, he can wipe out the mortal with a flick of his finger.
The Battle of Saarhu was just an ordinary border rout for the Ming Dynasty - the Ming Dynasty had been in rout - so it did not cause much shock to the empire at that time.
However, after the fall of Shenyang, the empire's resources continued to be poured into Liaodong, thinking that things would end there. Unexpectedly, Liaodong eventually became a bottomless pit.
Liao Rating, the empire terminator, was born under such circumstances.
In the forty-sixth year of Wanli, in order to finance the Liaodong war, the Liaodong army's salary increased sharply by 3 million taels. Although the Wanli emperor had a million in internal funds, he ultimately lost all of it out of distrust of all his ministers. So the Ministry of Household Affairs levied an additional 3 cents and 5 cents per mu, adding up to more than 2 million taels of silver.
From then on, Liao's wages became custom-made. In the early years of Tianqi, except for a few areas such as Guizhou, an average of nine cents of silver per mu of land was levied, totaling 5,200,620 taels.
In the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), the field tax was raised from nine cents to one and two cents, and more than 6.67 million taels of silver were distributed. In addition to customs duties, salt taxes and miscellaneous items, a total of 7.48 million taels of silver were collected. Two hundred and ninety-eight taels.
The increase in Liao's salary per acre of land in the country actually does not increase much. However, when it comes to the hands of local officials, there are various opportunities to manipulate them.
Under the reasonable operation of local officials, the final Liao salary collection could soar ten or even a hundred times compared to the amount set by the imperial court.
Before Wanli, the gentry still had to pay some money and grain (although they often defaulted on it maliciously). By the time of Tianqi and Chongzhen, the gentry simply stopped paying.
However, the war in Liaodong was still going on, and the Qiu Ba people were all asking for money. If they didn't give it, it would be a mutiny and a riot. The local officials had the consciousness to pass on the taxes originally paid by the gentry to the powerless people.
As a result, a large number of homesteaders went bankrupt and became homeless and hungry people.
The wave of refugees that swept through Shaanxi, Henan and other places during the Tianqi and Chongzhen years had their roots here.
From the forty-seventh year of Wanli to the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, for more than 20 years, the Liao salary of three to four million every year fattened many bureaucrats. Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Household Affairs, once said:
"Even if I order Dong Nu Lian to lie down in his cave without firing a single arrow to the west, my world will be destroyed."
After the late Ming Dynasty, most of the officials in the DPRK were from the south. Regardless of the Zhejiang Party, the Chu Party, or the Donglin Party, they all focused on the interests of the south in policy formulation and implementation. It is impossible to collect taxes from these people, not even in this lifetime. Only by working harder can the people maintain their lives.
Liu Zhaosun could see clearly that the crux of all the chaos in the late Ming Dynasty lay in Liao's wages.
The problem of deceiving the superiors and hiding the subordinates in Liao's salary, and the corruption of all employees, is a systemic shortcoming. Even figures like Zhang Juzheng and Emperor Yongzheng are unable and unwilling to correct it.
If you can't solve the problem, then get rid of the people who created the problem.
He planned to stay in Liaodong first, like other military leaders, and then take advantage of the Liao pay bonus.
Such as Mao Wenlong who later occupied Pi Island, Zu Dashou who retreated to Jinzhou, and Wu Sangui who occupied Shanhaiguan.
After confirming the following strategy, the following things will be much easier to handle.
On the eighth day of March, Liu Zhaosun led nearly 6,000 remaining Ming troops to rest by the Hun River.
After confirming that Jiannu would not catch up again, Liu Zhaosun commanded everyone to gather the defeated troops while gathering the soldiers who died in the battle.
Kang Yingqian watched Pei Dahu lead his servants to move the corpses on the ground to the carriage, and the artillery originally loaded on the carriage was lifted off.
The Lord Supervisor had a look of astonishment on his face and said to Pei Dahu:
"What are you doing? You don't even have artillery?"
Pei Dahu turned around and looked ahead. Liu Zhaosun was standing on a large bluestone on the river bank. Looking from Kang Yingqian's position, he saw Liu Zhaosun with disheveled hair and thought he was committing suicide.
The supervisor hurriedly rushed forward, and when he got closer, he found that Mr. Liu's bun was messy, and his face had become colorful, as if he was smeared with women's makeup.
When Kang Yingqian came over, Liu Zhaosun was still talking to the river with his head lowered. The Supervisor of the Army forced himself to get closer and faintly heard:
When driving Wu Ge, one wears rhinoceros armor, and one's chariot has the wrong hub, so there is a hand-to-hand encounter.
The enemy is like clouds when the sun is blocked, and the soldiers are fighting for the lead.
Ling Yu formation is still walking, and the left side is wounded by the right blade.
Two wheels of haze come to feed four horses, and jade canals come to support and the drums are beaten.
"Boss Liu, are you from Chu?"
What Liu Zhaosun was reciting was Qu Yuan's "National Sorrow", and his voice was like sobbing and complaining.
"Boss Liu, do you want to summon spirits? Is this "National Sorrow" not as good as the "Diamond Sutra"?"
The surrounding soldiers looked at General Liu with awe.
Seeing him lowering his head, facing the endless corpses, he started to tremble like a sheep having an epileptic fit:
"Come back, come back! Come back!"
Kang Yinggan smiled coldly, stepped forward and grabbed his shoulders, lowering his voice and saying:
"Boss Liu, I don't see that you still know how to summon spirits and exorcise ghosts. How long will it take you to bring the dead with you to Shenyang? What if you are attacked by Jian slaves on the way?"
Liu Zhaosun felt like he was electrocuted. He shook his head and passed out.
Just as Kang Yingqian was about to go up, he suddenly jumped up and wiped off the rouge human blood on his face by the river. He regained his consciousness like a great immortal on horseback.
A group of Ming soldiers stared blankly at this side, with a look of awe on their faces.
"Both the living and the dead must go home! I will take you home! The dead will summon their souls, and the living will also summon their souls!"
More and more soldiers gathered by the river, soon exceeding a thousand. In the hearts of everyone, Liu Zhaosun had become their spiritual leader, a man who could lead everyone home safely.
Jun Song is dead, Marin has escaped, these big soldiers, the Ming Army of the Northwest Road, are now not only serving as guards for Jiannu, but also lying dead in the wild.
And General Manager Liu provides everyone with food and clothing, gives everyone victory, and takes everyone home, dead and alive.
With such a general, how could the soldiers not support him?
"Everyone in the East Route Army is a mother who was pregnant for ten months and brought out a handful of feces and urine. Who among you does not have a father, mother, brothers and sisters? Both parents have longed for you. Now you are dead in this barbaric place. The land has turned into bones, and even the ancestors cannot recognize it!”
When Kang Yingqian saw this, he thought Liu Zhaosun was trying to win people's hearts, so he spat and stopped talking.
"You don't want to be a lonely ghost after your death, do you?"
All the soldiers said in unison: "I don't want to!"
An injured captain of the Zhejiang Army Banner said with lingering fear:
"Sir, what should I do if the slave thieves catch up?"
Liu Zhaosun paused for a moment and looked up at the crowd. After a fierce battle with the Xianglan Banner, whether it was the Zhejiang soldiers or the Korean soldiers, they had another layer of fear of the Jiannu slaves. This issue was also the most concerning to everyone.
Liu Zhaosun jumped down from the bluestone, and the flag captain took two steps back in fright.
"If the slaves and thieves catch up, it is destiny! I will fight to the end with the slaves and thieves! Without these dead people holding Jiannu in front, there would be no us. If we abandon them, I will return to Shenyang and be rewarded by the court. , you will also have uneasy conscience, and you will not be able to sleep peacefully! If you are not willing to carry the body, just leave by yourself!"
After saying that, Liu Zhaosun glanced at the audience, and the surrounding area became quiet. After a moment, someone suddenly shouted:
"Swear to the death to follow Mr. Liu!"
The soldiers immediately shouted:
"Swear to the death to follow Mr. Liu!"
The surviving soldiers dragged the heavy artillery from the carriage, and under the general command of each battalion commander, they shouted slogans and pushed the artillery into the fast-flowing Hun River.
The soldiers carried the corpses on the ground to the carriage and stacked them neatly together.
The carriage creaked and headed south on the rugged mountain road. Under the dim sky, it was like the underworld of hell.
Seven or eight hundred defeated soldiers returned to the army one after another.
Regarding the handling of these defeated troops, the two civil servants and Liu Zhaosun had differences.
At Liu Zhaosun's insistence, except for some Zhejiang soldiers and Korean archers, all the other defeated soldiers were beheaded.
Pei Dahu was beheading everywhere with his sword. In the blink of an eye, there were more than 300 heads of defeated soldiers on the ground.
The surrounding Ming troops were shocked and frightened, and at the same time they were glad that they persisted until the end and did not flee.
"Killing like this is for fear of discord with God."
Kang Yingqian's voice trembled. He had never seen such a formation before. The servants were being killed so many that the supervisor was terrified.
Liu Zhaosun looked serious and said without any doubt:
"Soldiers are defeated once, and there will be a second time. If there is no military discipline, how can an army be formed? Qi Shuai's art of war, the army is defeated, except for the innocent ones who are kidnapped, and those who still fail after fighting hard, the rest will be beheaded!"
"Even if ten thousand people fled, they would all be beheaded!"
So in the Ming army camp, there was a spectacle of collecting corpses here and hacking and killing deserters there.
After this combination of kindness and power, Liu Zhaosun's prestige in the army further improved.
Nothing happened all night.
On the ninth day of March, the army set off and continued to move south.
More than 6,000 people were reorganized and divided into three parts.
Liu Zhaosun personally led more than 3,000 troops, and Pei Dahu and Jin Yinghe each led 1,500 troops.
The Yehe people left in a hurry, and the armor and weapons of Jiannu were left to the Ming army.
The Ming army selected sophisticated armors and weapons, and also found some food and grass from the Tatars.
When they returned to Shenyang, they took the same route. After all, this road was more familiar to them after they had walked it once.
The weather in March and April in Liaodong is still quite cold, so the bodies of soldiers should not rot when transported back.
All the artillery brought by the East Route Army were sunk into the Hunjiang River, which made Qiao Yiqi heartbroken.
These old antiques were given to Yang Hao, but he probably didn't want them.
The previous explosion of the barrel fully demonstrated that this thing is far more efficient at killing one's own people than the enemy on the battlefield. It is estimated that Jiannu would not dare to use it.
The Hunjiang River is so fast that it would be impossible for the Kingdom of Jin to pick up the No. 100 coats without damaging them.
The Ming army walked slowly southward along the Hun River. They walked for a day and covered about forty miles.
Setting up camp at night, the horses did not take off their saddles and the men did not take off their armor. Liu Zhaosun and his servants slept together.
I forgot to mention that the beautiful girl brought by Jiang Hongli is now wearing a mandarin duck war coat and a bright helmet, and is following Mr. Liu as a servant.
Except for Liu Zhaosun, no one recognized that she was a girl.
This Korean beauty had long been frightened out of her wits after witnessing several bloody battles. She was afraid that she would be abandoned by General Liu and fall into the hands of the Tatars, so she naturally obeyed Liu Zhaosun's words.
Liu Zhaosun has no desire to hide his beauty in a golden house for the time being. The Korean beauty has a good response in the Ming Dynasty capital market and is well received by consumers. If he gives her as a gift to a certain official or chief executive in the future, if he likes her, it will be much more useful than money. .
At dawn the next day, the army gathered another eight or nine hundred defeated troops. Liu Zhaosun ordered the heads of fifty people to be chopped off to serve as a warning to the monkeys.
"I am Liu San'er from Maying. Many people are lost in the woods and don't have enough food. The black blind men are still eating people at night. One of my brothers was eaten by a bear after he froze. We are lucky. We met the boss. Master (Liu Zhaosun), I am truly a living Bodhisattva!"
Liu Zhaosun smiled coldly.
"In the battle the day before yesterday, the Zhejiang soldiers were still resisting, but you guys fled first. Drag them down and kill them!"
On the second night of the march, a small-scale fierce battle broke out between North Korean archers and a group of white-armored soldiers. After the two sides shot two people to death, they broke away from contact and disappeared into the vast night.
In the early morning of the third day, Pei Dahu judged from the small flag behind the dead white-armored soldier that it was Ba Yala of Zhenglan Banner.
Liu Zhaosun knew that Mang Gurtai was testing him, so he did not dare to stop and continued to move forward faster.
At noon on the third day, Ye Bu received a report saying that a Ming army troop was coming from the direction of Kuandian.
"The white flowers are all white spears, like a forest, and I don't know how many people there are."
"The white-pole soldiers are here!"
Next to him, the North Korean deputy general Jin Yinghe had never been to Shu, and naturally he had never seen any white soldiers. Qiao Yiqi explained to him.
"They are a chieftain soldier from the southwest. They are not only found in Sichuan, but also all over the southwest. However, these soldiers use white-steel guns."
The white pole gun is a long pole made of strong white wood (ash tree), with a bladed hook on the top and a hard iron ring on the bottom. During combat, the hook can be cut and pulled, and the ring can be used as a hammer weapon.
The two sides met each other overnight, and soon, under the protection of the servants, Liu Zhaosun and the opposite general met in the middle of the two armies.
A year later, in the Battle of Hunhe, Zhejiang and Sichuan soldiers rushed to aid Liao. When they arrived at the Liaodong battlefield, Shenyang had fallen at the speed of light in the hands of Liao Town.
Both soldiers and horses were full of confidence in themselves and wanted to show a strong military posture on the banks of the Hun River and fight against the entire Houjin army on their own.
Liao Zhen's attitude towards the guest soldiers was still to watch the fire from the other side and watch others being destroyed.
The two powerful armies of the Ming Dynasty were finally defeated by the Eight Banners Army that was ten times their own strength. This was the famous bloody battle of Hunhe River in history.
Liu Zhaosun was determined to prevent the historical tragedy of the Battle of Hunhe from happening again no matter what.
Liu Zhaosun once went to Sichuan with his adoptive father and met Qin Liangyu, but that was a long time ago.
"I am the adopted son of Liu Wei and grandson of Liu Zhao. My adopted father was an old friend of the chieftain of the Qin family. I wonder who the general is?"
After hearing this, the white-robed general on the opposite side looked at Liu Zhaosun carefully, bowed his hands respectfully and said:
"The last general is General Qin's Qian General, Qin Jianxun. After hearing the emperor's call, my aunt sent her nephew ahead. She led five thousand white-armed soldiers and then arrived in Liaodong."
