Chapter 8 Chapter 4 Frontier Provocations
That great husband is indeed in charge of the gate, and he is invincible.
He was born with a square head and big ears, with a majestic appearance, wearing armor and a battle robe, and riding on a tall horse, which showed his mighty spirit; a spear in his hand danced like a tree covered with silver flowers, and the thunder light pierced through it. The cloud, then, formed clusters of bright red blood flowers, sprayed like a torrential rain, and then fell to the pure white snow, forming a heart-pounding picture...
There was a burst of thunderous cheers and applause from the top of the city tower, the sound waves almost shook the mountains: "Oh - He - the city lord is brave - the city lord is brave..."
The echo lingered for a long time, and the soldiers defending the city were full of enthusiasm, and all of them entered a state of high excitement; the great man on the horse was naturally encouraged by the joyful sound, and he triumphantly threw his spear into the air. With a high move, he accepted the cheers of the crowd. There was a little bright red blood on the tip of the silver gun, which was extremely dazzling in the snow light, and it also made him look red and more energetic.
So, with a slight effort, he rode his horse forward, swung the spear like a dragon, vigorous, brave, fast, and accurate. After a few ups and downs, he culled three rounds in front of the battle, and the point of the spear fell off again. Several enemy heads.
Then, there was another thunderous cheer, which went straight into the sky and reached Li Chengliang's ears from afar.
At this time, Li Chengliang was on a high platform not far away, watching the battle condescendingly.
He likes luxury by nature, so wherever he goes, there must be a lot of ostentation-this high platform was originally built overnight for the convenience of him watching the battle-the huge platform can accommodate a hundred people, and now it is full of people His confidant guards and family generals; these warriors were originally selected from the army, and after rigorous training, they were dead soldiers who had followed him for many years. All of them were superb in martial arts and strong in physique. , full of energy, with the sword out of its sheath, guards like stars arching the moon lined up beside Li Chengliang.
Li Chengliang himself sat high on a very elegant chair in the middle of the stage, carefully watching the ongoing war at the city gate; his ancestors came from North Korea, and his appearance still retained the characteristics of the North Koreans. His slender eyes, yellow complexion, gloomy eyes and two small beards all showed his blood—but, spiritually, he was already a Han Chinese.
It turned out that as early as his great-grandfather Li Ying was attached to North Korea, and the Ming Dynasty granted him the command of the hereditary Tieling Guard, the Li family had been naturalized as subjects of the Ming Dynasty, and the Sinicization was deepening. In addition to heredity, she no longer has the slightest habit of the Koreans.
However, Li Chengliang was not satisfied in his early years; although he had a hereditary position, he was also brave and strong, and had the talent of a general, but because of his poor family, he was unable to take up the position, and he was still a student at the age of forty; An inspector censor who valued him very much gave him money to help him enter the capital, and only then did he assume the post of commanding the affairs; Candidate General, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, etc.
It is actually not easy for him to be able to rise steadily like this-the situation in Liaodong was in chaos before the founding of the Ming Dynasty. The hardest in the country.
It turns out that Liaodong was originally the hometown of the Jurchens, a branch of the Tungus nomads in the north. The Jurchens have a long history and origins, and they had names such as Sushen and Mohe in ancient times. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jurchens established the Kingdom of Jin. , developed from a nomadic tribe that lived on fishing and hunting to a large country with considerable culture, politics, and economy; but after the Kingdom of Jin was wiped out by Mongolia, it lost its unified national scale and degenerated into many small tribes , still live on nomadic fishing and hunting, and the tribes also lost their institutions due to degradation, and fought endlessly.
At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Nuer Gandu Division was established in Liaodong, with 384 guards under its jurisdiction; however, these administrative measures did not improve the endless wars and disturbances in the Liaodong area.
The Jurchen ministries attacked each other, and there were constant disputes with the Han people. In addition, the "next door" Mongols and Koreans often crossed the border to disrupt the situation, forming a multi-angle problem here, and it also made Liaodong hardly a day without war.
In the first year of Yongle, Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, Aha, the leader of the wild Jurchens, came out to court, and the Ming Dynasty established the Jianzhou Guard, with Ahachu as the commander.In the early years of Ming Yingzong’s orthodoxy, the Ming court abolished the Nuer Gandu Division, and the situation in Liaodong became even more chaotic. At that time, the Jurchens were roughly divided into Savage Jurchen, Haixi Jurchen, and Jianzhou Jurchen, and under the three major divisions, they were divided into many small divisions. Later, the savage Jurchen gradually became stronger and invaded south, and the Haixi and Jianzhou Jurchen had to move south.
After Jianzhou Jurchen moved to Hetuala in the upper reaches of Sukesuhu River, they were divided into three guards in Jianzhou, and because of this, they got the harvest of "you can lose your horse, but you don't know it's a blessing"-this place is closer to the territory of the Ming Dynasty. The relationship with the Ming Dynasty has become closer, and thus the standard of living has been improved in an all-round way.
As early as the Yongle period, the Ming Dynasty had already established horse markets in Kaiyuan and Guangning to trade with various Jurchen ministries.During the Chenghua period of Emperor Xianzong, a horse market was opened in Fushun to trade with Jianzhou Jurchen. Later, Guangshun Pass (South Pass), Zhenbei Pass (North Pass), Qinghe, Kuiyang, Kuandian, etc. were opened. The horse market: the transaction between the two parties, the Ming Dynasty exchanged materials such as cloth, silk, satin, rice, and iron for Jurchen products such as horses, cattle, sheep, ginseng, and mink; however, the establishment of the horse market has its own advantages and disadvantages. Then both sides take what they need and exchange what they don't have, which can not only cause economic prosperity, but also promote cultural exchanges; however, trade is one of the main reasons for the opening of disputes.
Similar to the trade disputes of other Hu-Han peoples, when Jurchen traded with the Ming Dynasty, the officials and businessmen of the Ming Dynasty often used fraudulent methods to make huge profits, such as excessive trade taxes and unequal exchanges, and even "Crafting", and because of the disparity in the cultural levels of the two sides, the Jurchens are not the opponents of the Ming Dynasty in terms of insidiousness and cunning, and they are always the loser in trade disputes; however, the Jurchens who are still in the tribal society Feeling unwilling after being bullied, they often confront each other with brute force-big and small fights and wars happened again and again.
The intervention of North Korea and Mongolia, and even the conquest of dozens of Jurchen tribes, although the reason is not in the "horse market", it cannot be separated from the "economic" relationship, and the natural law of "birds die for food" repeats itself plays out in humans.
Faced with such a situation, the court of the Ming Dynasty could not come up with a proper solution to the chaos in Liaodong because of internal political corruption on the one hand, eunuchs gaining power, and treachery in power. Due to the good governance policy, the Liaodong Town established was sandwiched between Mongolia, Jurchen, and North Korea. Not only did it have no binding force on these three parties, but it was often involved in melee, which also made the huge land outside the pass , it has completely become a slaughterhouse of "the weak eat the strong"-so, the generals in Liaodong are embarrassed, and if they lose, they will be killed at any time!
Fortunately, Li Chengliang was not mediocre at first, and with his military exploits getting better and stronger, his strategy was also increasing day by day, and he was able to control the enemy at the right time; for the multi-corner relationship between Jurchen, North Korea, and Mongolia, he adopted the strategy of "controlling Hu with Hu" On the one hand, they secretly stir up troubles, making them kill each other to contain each other and reduce their power, on the other hand, they "sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight", waiting for the opportunity of "the snipe and the clam fight, and the fisherman wins". With the great victory, the military voice of Liaodong Town began to build up some prestige.
In the Wanli period, Li Chengliang's military power increased by one more thing—perhaps, this was just a drop in the bucket for him personally, but it planted a special cause; that was the killing of Wang Gao, the commander of the Jianzhou Weidu. .
Wang Gao was the most outstanding talent among the Jurchens at that time. In the Wanli period, the three guards of Jianzhou had actually split into the Sukesu Huhe Department, the Hunhe Department, the Wanyan Department, the Dong Jaw Department, and the Zhechen Department. And the three Changbai Mountain tribes including the Yalujiang tribe, Zhu Sheli tribe, and Nuoyin tribe, and Wang Gao is the leader of the most powerful tribe among the Jianzhou tribes.
In the first year of Wanli, Li Chengliang began to plan to attack Wang Gao because he had invaded Liaodong several times; in October of the second year, this plan was realized.
Li Chengliang led a large army to besiege Wang Gao, and broke several of Wang Gao's gates with firearms. When they encountered strong winds, they burned up; Wang Gao's army was unable to fight because of this, and more than a thousand people were killed; I also had no choice but to flee to Ahana Village, Li Chengliang sent troops to hunt him down, Wang Gao had to go to Wan Khan of the Haixi Jurchen Hada tribe, but Wan Khan betrayed him, bound him, and dedicated him to Li Chengliang.
Since then, Li Chengliang's official career has been more smooth sailing. In a few years, because he counted the barbarians, Mongols, and Jurchen tribes, his military exploits became more prosperous. Commander, until December of the sixth year of Wanli, when he went out of the fortress for more than 200 miles to break the barbarian battle, his military exploits had accumulated to the highest among the ministers of the Ming Dynasty, so the court named him Uncle Ningyuan , The annual salary is eight hundred stones.
Of course, his glory and wealth only accounted for half of his success on the battlefield—although he is a Korean in blood, he has already become a Han Chinese in spirit. Therefore, He has a good understanding of the philosophy of being an official in the Han culture; coupled with his early years of poverty, he has experienced the warmth and coldness of human relationships, and he has honed his sophisticated human sophistication; ", especially the generals guarding the border, if they fail to make friends with powerful officials in the court as internal support, no matter how hard they work on the battlefield, it will not help their future. Therefore, in this regard, he will work hard. Work hard; anyway, he has been in Liaodong for many years, and the benefits in terms of military expenses, horse prices, salt lessons, city rewards and other items are already astronomical, not to mention that he also relied on the privilege of the Liaodong General Army to arbitrarily collect people's fat and people's anointing, even The interests of the merchants and people in the whole Liao Dynasty were all in his private pockets; from these undivided gains, if he raised a small amount of money, it was enough for him to bribe the dignitaries of the Manchu Dynasty.
He also knows very well that the eunuchs in the court dare to act recklessly, the power traitors dare to crowd out and subjugate the loyal ones at will, and one of the reasons why they feel confident in their hearts is also because they have made friends with the border commander who has a large army-this subtle relationship of collusion, he can handle it well It is accurate and appropriate, and it is even more handy when used; therefore, every time he wins a battle, many people applaud him, and exaggerate his military achievements several times to praise the emperor, and cover up for him when he loses; In addition, these wars mostly took place outside the Great Wall, and "the sky is high and the emperor is far away", so it is very easy to cover up; occasionally, when he meets a few honest people who want to report the truth, they are often blocked or even excluded by the powerful officials he associates with; therefore, he even He even dared to tell lies to cover up defeat and win victory, and dared to kill good people and surrender soldiers to pretend to be the leader of the enemy; as long as the powerful officials in the court accepted his heavy money, his future would be bright. Relying on these means and military exploits, he rose step by step...
Now, he is an extremely powerful minister, he has wealth, fame, and power. Of course, his age has also increased. He is no longer young, and he has long been accustomed to this kind of bloody battle career. ; For this battle, he has a plan in his mind-he has already experienced hundreds of battles, and of course he has a sure chance of winning when attacking such a small city.
He stared fixedly at the battlefield at the gate of the city. During the confrontation between the two armies, the attacking side had a large number of people and a powerful army. Riding horses to supervise the battle, commanding the battle situation from the front and back of the left and right; the side defending the city seems to be outnumbered and lonely, and there are no more than a hundred people out of the city to fight - he has carefully estimated that the entire city of Gule City is also The population is only 3,000, and the number of soldiers is less than half - but this small team has strict orders, well-founded advances and retreats, and all of them are fierce and brave, and one is as good as ten; The advance and retreat of this team and the shooting of arrows are perfectly coordinated. In addition, the leader of the city, A Tai, is brave and extraordinary. He personally led the troops to fight. He has wounded countless people with just a long spear in his hand, raising the morale of the whole city to a boiling point. , A small city is as strong as a wall of iron and steel, and thousands of troops and horses cannot cross the thunder pond.
Li Chengliang saw it in his eyes, and the calculation in his heart became clearer: "Auntie, he is indeed Wang Gao's son-he is indeed a young hero, I really can't let him grow up..."
Just as he was thinking, another burst of cheers rushed to his ears like a frenzy; he didn't even need to guess, it must be that Mrs. Tai had won with a single shot, and he couldn't help but lightly shot Frowning, he raised his right hand and made a gesture.
Accompanying him was his fifth son Li Rumei, seeing his gesture, he quickly bent forward to ask for instructions: "Father, what are your orders?"
Li Chengliang lazily said: "Go and tell your brother, Ming Jin withdraws!"
When Li Rumei heard the words, there was a hint of surprise in her eyes; but he had served Li Chengliang for many years in battle, knew his habits of speaking and dealing with things, and knew that his orders were always forbidding others to comment, and he had no other choice but to obey orders. Therefore, he immediately responded respectfully: "Yes, father!"
So he took a few steps forward, walked to the front of the stage, and stood still. Then, he took out a small red pennant flag from his arms, raised it high into the air, paused for a while, and pressed the flag down again. He waved the flag three times in the air in the order of left, right, front and back. After the dance, he still took the flag back into his arms and retreated behind Li Chengliang himself.
In an instant, there was a sound of ringing gold on the battlefield, and the troops of the brigade gathered towards the center amidst the sound of orders; when the defenders saw this situation, they retreated in an orderly manner under the leadership of Ah Tai. The city went.
Li Chengliang certainly saw the discipline displayed by the enemy army clearly, but he didn't say anything, but only issued a brief order: "Return to the camp!"
As soon as he returned to the camp, he immediately ordered Li Rumei: "Go and pass on——Ruwu, Rugui, come in!"
Li Rumei responded immediately: "Yes..."
Then, he walked out quickly; after a while, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the tent, and it was three people running into the tent at small steps.
The two people following Li Rumei were naturally Li Ruwu and Li Rugui. When they saw Li Chengliang, they knelt down with a "poof".
"The child is not effective in attacking the city, please punish the father!"
Li Chengliang just took a cup of ginseng tea from his entourage and drank it slowly. When he heard these voices, he didn't even raise his eyelids, and sipped the tea lightly by himself; Li Ruwu and Li Rugui knelt on the ground , forehead touching the ground, not even daring to breathe.
The surroundings fell into complete silence, and Li Rumei, who was originally worried, became even more anxious now.
Finally, after a long time, there was a "click" that broke the silence - it was the collision sound of Li Chengliang drinking Bishen tea and covering the lid on the cup, and then he heard his long cry With a sound of breath, he let out a sound and dragged the end, and then said slowly: "Get up! I saw the battle just now with my own eyes, no wonder you..."
As soon as these words came out, it was like a letter of pardon, and his three sons breathed a sigh of relief in unison.
Li Ruwu and Li Rugui quickly kowtowed in unison: "Thank you, handsome father..."
After saying that, the two of them knocked their heads on the ground again, and then struggled to stand up with their half-numbed knees, lowered their hands and stood in front of Li Chengliang.
Li Chengliang glanced at the two of them leisurely, and then asked casually: "Have you all seen it? Gule City is not easy to attack—Ruwu, tell me, after the battle just now, did you think of it?" Is there any good strategy to control the enemy?"
Li Ruwu replied in a muffled voice: "Father commander, my child still remembers that five years ago, when father commander led the children to attack Wang Gao, they used firearms. This time..."
His attitude in answering was extremely cautious, but Li Chengliang shook his head several times before he finished speaking: "Now, the weather and location are very different from five years ago, where can we still set fire? Didn't pay attention To the direction of the wind? Snowy day?"
"Yes. My son was wrong!" Li Ruwu blushed suddenly: "My son will firmly remember my father's teachings!"
"Rugui, what about you?"
While Li Ruwu was answering, Li Rugui was already thinking about what to say, so his expression calmed down a lot: "Father, I think this aunt is brave, but Gule City is just a small city with limited soldiers, food and grass. Besides, the terrain of Gule City is based on the mountain and is dangerous. Although it is good for defense, but because it is backed by the mountain, there is no retreat. If Atai wants to escape over the mountain, he must climb over the uninhabited iceberg in the snowstorm. That's even more difficult—so, in my view, since the siege of the city can't be taken advantage of by Ah Tai, why not use this strategy of "catch the turtle in the urn" to surround the Gule City, and after a long time, the food and grass in the city It's all over, so naturally I have to surrender!"
Li Chengliang listened to his words, but only smiled slightly and said: "It's a sure-fire strategy!"
At this moment, Li Rugui was also embarrassed. He blushed and lowered his head, not daring to speak any more. Fortunately, Li Chengliang didn't intend to scold the two of them. He waved his hand and said to them, "Go down, all of you! Go and pick a few." A fast horse, send a few smart people to Shaji City to see what's going on, and urge Nikan Wailan to hurry up!"
He had entrusted Li Ruwu and Li Rugui with a mission, so the two bowed their knees respectfully: "Yes! Master, my son obeys!"
After talking, the two left the camp, and Li Chengliang said again: "Rumei, you go too! First go and see the situation of the rear army and your ninth brother, and ask them to report the exact amount of food and grass!"
"Yes! Father handsome."
Li Rumei responded respectfully and left the camp.
The three sons had all left, and the footsteps were getting farther and farther away, leaving only Li Chengliang sitting tall in the camp. He heard the farther and weaker footsteps, and couldn't help letting out a long sigh. .
Tiger father and dog son, this is a foregone conclusion - he has nine sons: Ru Song, Ru Bai, Ru Zhen, Ru Zhang, Ru Mei, Wu Zi, Ru Wu, Ru Gui, Ru Nan; under his own wings, These nine sons' bright future and prosperity are not a problem. Not to mention their hereditary positions, even with their military merits, they all have at least a commander-in-chief or a general; but these nine sons are all mediocre in intelligence, There is nothing extraordinary about them, and they are not materials for a great career at all. At most, they rely on their father's shadow to keep their success—it seems that none of these nine sons can inherit his "Uncle Ning Yuan"'s prosperous martial arts and career.
He couldn't help but feel disappointed, and the feelings that followed were even deeper.
"Born in such a family of bells and tripods, they should be better than others-ah! I always let them suffer when they were young, and they haven't experienced experience-you can't cut jade, it can't be used, but I missed them. !"
Thinking of this, I can't help recalling the memories of my early years: At that time, my family was poor and I could hardly make a living. Therefore, at a young age, I tasted the bitterness of the world, the coldness of the world, and ate thousands of kinds of food. Hardship, overcoming hundreds of hardships, all relying on holding a breath, gritting your teeth hard; and then, even though you got a position, you have to go through countless battles, big and small, to accumulate military merits in exchange for Motivated; after many battles, the scars left by knives, arrows, spears and halberds on his body are countless, and he has to make every effort to make friends with the powerful and flatter him - the title of "Uncle Ning Yuan" is not easy to come by!
However, these kinds of memories made him feel a deeper layer of pain - he had worked so hard to earn the title, but he didn't have an outstanding son to inherit it - I'm afraid, the title of his life Career, can only stop at the body!
"Ah!" He couldn't help shaking his head and sighing again and again, but he murmured to himself: "Could it be that this is my retribution——God didn't give me a good son!"
It is resentment, it is also Youren, and it is sad, regretful, and helpless; it is almost old age, and the ruthlessness of the years appears in his eyes, which is an old look; he has no way to prevent his thoughts from rushing. When it comes to the matter behind him: "If only one of Ru Song and the others was as good as I was back then!"
He was thinking, and suddenly, a shadow of a person flashed in front of his eyes, it was a majestic young hero; he quickly went to catch his thoughts and keep this shadow.
"Auntie—ah, no, it's Nurhachi!"
It's Nurhachi!
The image in his mind became clearer—it was Nurhachi!He is smart, wise, handsome and powerful; more importantly, he is not only not discouraged in a difficult environment, but he is stronger and braver to face difficult challenges!
"This child will become a great talent in the future..." As early as a few years ago, he had praised Nurhachi in this way. At that time, Nurhachi had just been kicked out of the house. When he saw Nurhachi, he comforted Nurhachi: " It’s nothing to encounter some difficulties now, you must know that the heaven will send a great task to the people, you must first work hard and work hard!”
However, at this moment, he suddenly thought of Nurhachi, and felt melancholy for no reason: "Unfortunately, he is not my son—if he is, how wonderful it would be!"
Thinking about it, he couldn't help sighing again, but at this moment, a loud voice came from outside the tent, interrupting his thoughts: "Father, the child is coming in like a laurel!"
"Come in!"
Li Rugui came into the tent and reported respectfully: "Successful father, there is good news from Nikan Wailan..."
Hearing this, Li Chengliang first smiled slightly, and then said hesitantly: "This guy, he's not really a fool!"
Li Rugui reported: "He captured Shaji City and slaughtered the city - at this moment, he is rushing here with Ah Haizhangjing's head!"
"Well, very good!" Li Chengliang nodded now: "This will make things easier!"
"Father, there is one other thing that is very strange;" Li Rugui continued to report, "According to the spies, there are two people. At the gate of the city—the boy couldn't guess their intentions, so he had to report to his father!"
Li Chengliang pondered and said: "The gates of Gule City are now closed and the defenses are tight. One person will be allowed to enter the city. This person must be unusual——what do those two people look like?"
"According to the spies who saw it, one of them is older, and the other is around forty, both wearing ordinary Jurchen uniforms, without any weapons!"
Li Chengliang asked: "Where did they come from?"
"This……"
Li Rugui couldn't answer for a while, but Li Chengliang frowned unknowingly, and the tone of his voice was as usual with an irresistible majesty and unhesitating conviction: "Go and find out—and, since there is still one person left at the gate of the city, it's best to see his appearance in person, it will be easier to judge!"
"Yes. The boy obeys!"
When he walked out of the tent, Li Chengliang frowned even tighter, but said in a low voice unconsciously: "Come on, the fire in the basin is not enough, add more ingredients to make it hotter!"
Notes:
Notes: