On May 28, the 14th year of Chongzhen, in Balipu, northeast of Shanhaiguan City, hundreds of carriages and chariots were ready to go, and nearly ten thousand soldiers lined up beside each vehicle to protect them.
Chen Jiugao rode his horse on the top of a hillside and couldn't help but exclaimed: "It's really spectacular. I never thought that the size of your car camp, brother, would be more than double that of when the bandits were suppressed in Henan Province!"
"hey-hey!"
Zhang Cheng just laughed twice and said: "No way, no way. They are just auxiliary soldiers put together temporarily."
Fu Yingchong also laughed dryly and said: "Brother Zhang, these auxiliary soldiers, in my opinion, seem to be better equipped than the regular soldiers in the front camp."
Zhang Cheng smiled and said nothing, but Chen Jiugao took the opportunity to knock Fu Yingchong and said: "Fu Daya, you have to remember it well. We may be able to compete with the soldiers and horses from other camps, but only the officers and soldiers under Brother Zhang, we Incomparable.”
Fu Yingchong was stunned when he heard this. He glanced at Zhang Cheng, looking a little unconvinced. However, because of the warning from Xiangcheng Bo Li Guozhen and now the reminder from his eldest brother, Commander-in-Chief Chen Jiugao, he said nothing more.
Not a moment later, Wei Zhice galloped up the hillside on horseback. He first clasped his fists and said, "Commander, all the soldiers in the carriage camp are ready for action. Please give me your instructions."
Zhang Cheng shouted: "Send the order, all the soldiers in Cheying will immediately break up their camps and march to Guangning Zhongqian to wait for orders."
"Here!"
Not long after Wei Zhice ran down the hillside, the carriage camp began to move forward in formation. They advanced in order. Although there were nearly ten thousand sergeants and hundreds of carts, it was not chaotic.
Suddenly, Fu Yingchong exclaimed: "What are these things going on behind, where the numbers are messy and the troops are not in order?"
Chen Jiugao looked in the direction of his finger and saw horse-drawn carriages, ox-carts, and even some donkey carts suddenly appearing behind the army of cart camps. They were obviously not as neat as the carts in front, and they were also wearing various colors. Well-dressed, not in military uniform.
Further behind were unicycles, and some strong men carrying poles on their shoulders. Although they were all in uniform, their clothes were not uniform. He turned to look at Zhang Cheng, and asked with confusion on his face. : "Brother, these are the handymen you're talking about, right?"
"Ha ha!"
Zhang Cheng laughed for a while and then said: "Two brothers, these are the transportation team of my North Road Merchant Gang."
"Convoy team? Isn't it a civilian?" Chen Jiugao and Fu Yingchong both looked puzzled.
"Exactly."
Zhang Cheng further explained: "I am worried that the army will march to Liaodong, far away from the heart of the Ming Dynasty. Once there is insufficient food and grass, the morale of the army will be chaotic and it will not last long.
What's more, the military supplies such as gunpowder, cannons, ointments, etc. that were sent out this time were difficult to transport, so they cooperated with local business gangs and had them purchase and transport them to Ningyuan City on their behalf. I just pay the money! "
Chen Jiugao nodded in thought, but Fu Yingchong kept mumbling: "Just throw away the money in vain? Aren't the people who transport grain and fodder all requisitioned from the people?"
Zhang Cheng ignored him and just said: "Brothers, let's go back and have breakfast. After reorganizing the army and setting out, let's rush to the Zhongqian Post and take a rest."
"good……"
…………
At midnight on the same day, Zhang Cheng led his cavalry and Chen Jiugao's front battalion artillery team to set off from Shanhaiguan and entered the boundary of the front garrison in Guangning, Liaodong. Only then did they truly step into the land outside the pass in Liaodong.
Walking on this land, a feeling of desolation and desolation comes to you, mixed with unspeakable tragic and heroic feelings.
Since the slave rebellion started in Liaodong during the Wanli period, how many fierce generals and troops from the Ming Dynasty came here?
For decades, they continued to pour into this desolate black land and dumped them on this desolate black land. Their corpses were forever buried in this desolate Ming Dynasty border area.
The desolate and mysterious land of Liaodong, where our ancestors have performed many thrilling stories. This desolate land has shed the blood of too many loyal soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, but they still failed to defend this vast land.
In Liaodong, what left the deepest impression on future generations was the endless black land. In later generations of China, it was one of the most precious assets. The food grown after its development fed countless people.
What's more, the more precious oil, coal, forestry, medicinal materials, and many abundant mineral resources on that land are simply a treasure land.
However, most of those resources cannot be exploited and used at present. Even the precious black soil is now unsuitable for farming due to the severe cold of the Ice Age. Only the Liaohetao and Songnen Plains are still barely farmable, but they have all been occupied by Jiannu. .
However, the Songnen Plain area at this time was also difficult to cultivate due to the severe cold of the glacier, and the output was limited. The only area suitable for cultivation was the Liaohetao area. No wonder the Jiannu occupied a large area of land in Liaodong, but they were unable to feed their own people and had to enter the customs year after year. Loot.
Initially, after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Liaodong Capital Command and Envoys Division was established in Liaodong in the eighth year of Hongwu. Its organizational structure was still under the Shandong Chengxuan Administrative Envoys Division, which was responsible for 25 guards, 138 divisions, two states, and one alliance in Liaodong. , in addition, there are Daning Dusi and Nuergan Dusi managing other places.
After decades of construction, agriculture and handicrafts in Liaodong were greatly developed at that time. Liaoyang and other places were even more prosperous places with "enviable wealth, thousands of miles of roads connected, and villages and forts facing each other."
At that time, Liaodong Dusi's iron smelting, salt making and other handicraft industries were also extremely developed and extremely important. The Sanwanwei and Jilin Shipyards under Liaodong Dusi were well-known iron smelting and shipbuilding centers in the country at that time.
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As soon as he stepped into the land of Liaodong, what impressed Zhang Cheng the most was the number of piers and platforms here. The mountains and hills in western Liaoning are rolling and rolling, giving him a unique advantage in building piers.
Moreover, Liaodong Town has been in war for many years, and many castles have been repaired and destroyed, and destroyed and repaired again. The construction of fire road piers in various places is also the same. In order to spread the police training, it is also ranked first among the towns on the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty. , worthy of the name of one pier in three miles and one pier in five miles.
On the other hand, in Xuanfu, a nine-sided town that is also the "key to the capital", there are only one pier every five miles and one pier every ten miles. However, now the piers and platforms in many places have been abandoned, and only some remnants are still standing in their original places. at.
Abandoned, this is Zhang Cheng's second impression of Liaodong. Along the way, there are ruins and ruins. In fact, there are many rivers along this section of the Liaodong Corridor. Occasionally, there are some villages and fortresses where Liao people live, and they farm in fear every day. With some land, except for giving it to the military commander, they can barely make a living.
Zhang Cheng looked at the various guard posts and piers he passed along the way, and most of them were in dilapidated condition, and the official roads were also very dilapidated. He really didn't know what the huge Liao salaries issued by the imperial court every year were spent on.
He looked at the faces of the people around him, and they all had angry expressions on their faces.
