stubborn thief

June 11th.

On the same day that Liu Chengzong won the battle outside the Great Wall, Gao Qiquan, the general commander of Guanning at the Jinzhou front, sent a report on his victory to the capital.

The Jinzhou army recaptured twelve cities including Gaizhou, Yaozhou, and Haizhou, and marched straight to Liaoyang.

Gao Qiquan was a young eunuch. Like other officials promoted during the Chongzhen reign, he had a short career.

The first time he left the palace, Li Jiuchen from Shandong acted like an invincible force and defeated all the reinforcements.

Chongzhen dispatched 4,800 Guan Nings to the pass to quell the rebellion, and selected Gao Qiquan, who had been well-educated and had some knowledge of military affairs, from the palace as a military supervisor to join the expedition.

After four months, Li Jiuchen was killed, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were driven away, and the massive rebellion was quelled.

Chongzhen tasted the sweetness of being a military supervisor, so he sent eunuchs to various military camps to serve as military supervisors.

As a result, these people did very bad things. They either embezzled military supplies or led elite troops to protect themselves and escape during battle. At the same time, it also made the generals lose their initiative and feel that it was a shame to be supervised by such people.

Only Gao Qiquan did a good job and the army had no complaints about his presence.

Therefore, by last year, Chongzhen had withdrawn all the military supervisors, leaving only Gao Qiquan still monitoring Guan Ning.

However, officials in the court had many complaints against Gao Qiquan.

Damn, this eunuch doesn't cause trouble for the troops he is supervising, but only causes trouble for others.

Other military supervisors usually hold on to power and mess with the troops they supervise. They embezzle military supplies on a daily basis, give reckless commands during preparations for war, and flee in battle.

He can do nothing and it is just like having no military supervisor. Even if the military supervisor is the best in the world, it is the blessing that the general's ancestors have cultivated for nine generations of kindness to others.

Gao Qiquan not only worked on personnel matters, but he even lost his dignity for the sake of doing so. When he found that the Guanning Army was short of war horses, with only 15,000 horses, he wrote a letter to the court.

Generally speaking, if a decent person encounters such a thing, he will definitely ask the court for money, or just ask for a horse.

Gao Qiquan is different. He is a eunuch who left the palace. Firstly, he has no shame and secondly, he understands Chongzhen.

He knew that doing so would cause trouble for the emperor. Our emperor is not an ordinary stingy person. It is a good thing that he does not get scolded when submitting a memorial. He certainly cannot get horses. All the pastures in the northwest have been snatched away by Liu Chengzong. Where can the court get horses?

So he didn't want money or horses.

Just write a letter to the court.

I beg the officials to help the children and donate all their salaries to our family so that we can buy them war horses for our Guanning soldiers to ride.

When Chongzhen saw that he didn't need to find money or horses, he thought: Great!
Capable official!

The memorial was immediately sent to the relevant officials.

The labor scab Wen Tiren was the first to respond, and then everyone lost their monthly salary.

Very vicious.

The Guanning Army now has 40,000 war horses.

Who wouldn't like this kind of military supervisor? Not only does he not withhold supplies, he can also get equipment from inside the country.

Gao Qiquan also likes Liu Chengzong very much now.

Ever since Liu Chengzong moved his troops to the border of western Liaoning, Gao Qiquan has been on high alert and keeping a close eye on Liu Chengzong's army.

Of course, staring at him is one thing, but Liu Chengzong was elusive on the battlefield and he couldn't find him is another thing.

Gao Qiquan was extremely scared at that time.

He was afraid that Liu Chengzong would attack Jinzhou.

Therefore, as soon as Zu Dashou gave him Liu Chengzong's letter forbidding the Guanning Army to move, Gao Qiquan immediately put on armor and went to the front line in Jinzhou to persuade the Jinzhou Army to obey.

Let's not move.

Gao Qiquan understood the emperor as if he knew his own life - although they were far away in the Forbidden City, his voice, appearance and smile could appear before his eyes when he closed his eyes.

As long as the emperor doesn't have to spend real money, everything is allowed.

A war can be avoided and a good opportunity can be missed, but there can be no losses.

It was also him who, after discovering that Liu Chengzong had no ill intentions towards Jinzhou, but instead made a mess of Liaodong and mobilized the main forces of the Eight Banners to the outside of the border, immediately formulated a counterattack plan with Zu Dashou.

It was called a counterattack, but in fact it was just a small-scale conflict, in which the land that Liu Chengzong had destroyed was taken over.

The operation was exceptionally successful.

It took them only two days to push the battle line from Niuzhuang all the way to Liaoyang. After discovering that the bricks in Liaoyang City had been burned red and they could not enter the city at all, they decided to station troops in the east and west cities of Liaoyang and wait for the Eight Banners to counterattack.

They then reunited with Shang Kexi and others at Jirgalang and pushed their forces back to Liaoyang, allowing the Jinzhou Army to evacuate in an orderly manner.

To be convenient for others is to be convenient for yourself.

If we want to maintain a long-term confrontation, we have to give the other side some face, control the scale of the battle, and do our best to avoid the expansion of the war before we are fully prepared.

It was not until he and Zu Dashou led the army back from Liaoyang and stationed in Haizhou that Gao Qiquan reported the victory to the capital and mentioned that the artillery of the Guanning Army was not very good.

This is a vaccination.

Gao Qiquan planned to ask the officials in Beijing for donations to build some red-haired cannons next year.

I can’t ask for anything more this year… Just with the purchase of horses in Guanning, the repair of the mausoleum in Fengyang, and the construction of the city in the capital, the officials in the capital won’t see any salary all year round.

Furthermore, those corrupt officials have gained a good reputation, while those non-corrupt officials are left with nothing, so I'm afraid they will have to be killed.

All in all, Gao Qiqian is very happy this year.

Although others can't help but curse him in their hearts, it doesn't matter. Let them curse. He can't hear it anyway.

Thanks to the eunuchs in Beijing, the troops now have war horses, their support capabilities have been greatly improved, and they have also won the hearts of the soldiers. Now all the officers and soldiers in Liaodong salute him from the bottom of their hearts when they see him.

Thanks to the help of Mr. Liu outside the border, they recaptured twelve castles without any effort, pushed the front line to the east of the Liaohe River, and gained great merit.

The key is Zu Dashou.

Who is Zu Dashou? He is an old man who has experienced Gao Huai. When he saw Gao Qiqian, a eunuch who looked like a human being, he praised him highly, fearing that the court would replace him with someone who looked like a human being.

Don’t even think about snatching the credit away. I’ll give it all to you. You don’t even have to write Zu’s name on the victory report.

People!

When good fortune comes, nothing can stop it.

Gao Qiqian's life as a god in Liaodong is even more comfortable than that of a bird.

So cool!
Within two days of sending out the good news, the emperor's edict from the capital arrived.

He issued five hundred reward medals and ordered him to dispatch troops to enter the pass to pacify the enemy.

During the Yongle period, military merits were broken down into three categories: extraordinary merit, first merit, and second merit, which are actually special merit, first-class merit, and second-class merit.

During the reign of Emperor Yingzong, medals were cast to reward the three classes of merit, namely, extraordinary merit, first merit and unrivalled merit.

It's actually a badge of honor.

It was just not a seal, but a waist badge made of gold, silver, copper and iron. Gao Qiqian didn't need to have this waist badge. Their battle was particularly easy. There were not even 500 soldiers who made meritorious contributions. They tried their best to issue 300 reward medals. Then they selected six battalions of the Guanning Army and sent 7,000 cavalry troops to enter the pass.

He has to show the officials in the capital that his salary is being spent wisely, and our Guanning warriors are all riding on it!

On the day Gao Qi sneaked into the pass, the interior was already filled with flames of war.

Ajige failed to leave the border from Lengkou, wasting precious time and food. He turned back to fight in the south and divided his troops to attack Laishui, Bao'an, Gu'an and Bazhou, eager to obtain supplies.

However, those cities were not captured quickly.

Ajige was path dependent. The places such as Lengkou where he left the country were the passes that Huang Taiji led them to break through during the Ji Si Rebellion. The counties that he divided his troops to plunder were also broken through during the Ji Si Rebellion.

It was an important area in the capital at that time. It had not been hit by war for many years and was attacked without any preparation.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty were not without memory. It was a consensus that the capital was no longer stable after the changes that had taken place. All parts of the country were training militiamen, repairing city walls, managing rivers and trenches, and preparing military equipment.

Just in Gu'an County, the magistrate was Huang Qiyu.

Huang Qiyu was from Chaozhou Prefecture. He grew up in a poor family. His father worked outside all year round after farming. Huang Qiyu was filial since childhood and was responsible for picking up manure and piling up manure at home.

Like Hong Chengchou, he was also poor and had to stand outside a private school to listen to lectures, allowing him to study for free. In the first year of Chongzhen, he passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi.

After passing the imperial examination, Huang Qiyu was entitled to four months' leave to visit his parents. However, as his father worked away from home all year round, Huang Qiyu was unable to find his father for four months. He returned to Beijing to be selected for the position, but before he was appointed, he was shocked to hear the news that his father had died in a foreign land, so he returned to his hometown to observe mourning.

It was not until the fourth year of Chongzhen that he returned to Beijing and waited for reinstatement.

There is a vacancy in Gu'an County.

When Wanli was the emperor, officials wanted to become officials but were unable to do so; when Chongzhen was the emperor, many people did not want to become officials at all.

Just taking Gu'an County as an example, the first two county magistrates were imprisoned and demoted respectively.

But Huang Qiyu's family was poor and he had observed three years of mourning, so he took the position and became the county magistrate.

As soon as he took office, Mr. Huang began to prepare for war.

First, remove the county officials and their accomplices who were amassing wealth and disturbing the people and falsely accusing innocent people of being thieves. Then repair the city walls, compile the county annals, train the people, and manufacture military equipment.

In the seventh year of Chongzhen, Huang Qiyu had passed the examination and was due to be transferred, but the city wall was not completed that year.

Huang Qiyu wrote a letter to the imperial court specifically for the purpose of repairing the city wall, asking him to raise the wall higher and deepen the moat during his next term.

When Ajige's troops arrived at Gu'an County, what was waiting for him was a Gu'an City with repaired city walls and deep and wide moats. There were eight hundred strong men on the walls, with swords, spears, bows and arrows, muskets and gunpowder, as well as the Ten Thousand Enemies, Portuguese cannons and General cannons.

Not to mention attacking the city, as soon as we get close, we will be hit by artillery fire.

At the same time, Shanxi Xuan's army advanced in the west, and Gao Qi sneaked into the pass in the east. Ajige could only flee south in panic.

They plundered the countryside on the way, ran away when they saw the Ming army, and even began to use silver bullets to attack. If there were garrisons blocking the road, they would first send people to give them some silver to let them pass.

As a result, a strange situation was formed in the capital area. The army of Beijing and Xuanda was chasing from behind, while Ajige was running and looting in the front, unstoppable. The suburbs were being looted everywhere, and anyone who blocked his way would flee when they saw him.

Gao Qiquan's Guanning Army was originally going to join the pursuit, but before he went far, he received another order from the emperor, ordering him to station in Miyun and guard the north.

Because on June 22, there was an urgent report from Miyun that Liu Chengzong's cavalry were circling Chaohe River outside Gubeikou.

Everyone in the court was afraid that Liu Chengzong would follow the example of the Eastern Tartars and break through the pass, so they urgently dispatched Gao Qiquan's Guanning Army to assist in the defense.

As a result, on the day Gao Qiquan arrived in Miyun, the Marshal's cavalry knocked on the gate.

There were three riders, carrying a large white flag with the words "Receive Reward" written on it. They passed by the ancient Beikou Gate horizontally, threw out two round objects, and rode north.

"Send it, the Grand Marshal's order, the Jizhen soldiers, go out and claim your reward!"

The defenders outside the Gubeikou Gate were at a loss and looked at each other, wondering what these people were here for.

Not long after the cavalry left, the garrison at the gate led their troops out on horseback, walked cautiously for several hundred steps, and when they saw no enemy ambush, they passed by.

Looking closely, they were two braided heads.

"Boss Bai, there's something tied to your braid!"

A piece of cloth with words written on it.

The same scene occurred outside every checkpoint on the border line of Jizhen Xixie.

The reason why there is only the Jizhen Western Association is because the fire set by Fei Yanggu is still burning. The Central Association and the Eastern Association are too hot.

Gao Qiquan was sighing in the camp outside Miyun County, feeling that he had no chance to fight Ajige and missed out on the honor.

Suddenly, the deputy general Chen Chaochong came running over and said, "Master Gao, the soldiers from Miyun have been handed over."

In fact, Gao Qiquan initially rejected this title.

But everyone shouted like that, and many officers and soldiers saluted him when they saw him, so he had no choice.

This was actually Zu Dashou’s order.

When cooperating with eunuchs, the most important thing is to give them face. If you give them face, even if they are bad people, they may not necessarily harm you.

If you don't give him face, he will remember you for the rest of his life, and even a good person will harm you when he finds a chance.

Because you already have a grudge against each other, who made you have a bird?

But Gao Qiquan didn't know about this order. He just felt that the Liao soldiers respected him very much and were all good people. It felt like home on the Guanningjin defense line and it was very warm.

Gao Qiquan took the cloth strip with a puzzled look on his face and the moment he saw the words on it, his eyes widened bigger than cannonballs!
On the strip of cloth it was clearly written: 'On June 11, 1777, Liu Chengzong carved a stone on Xing'an Mountain, defeating 60,000 Jin troops at Laoha River. The border troops left the pass and brought back the heads of the captives in exchange for rewards!'

Gao Qiqian couldn't help but jump up and cried out: "What on earth is he going to do?"

At that moment, he thought Liu Chengzong was going to recruit all the Miyun soldiers to the outside of the border and then destroy the wall to advance.

But as he stood up, his clever IQ regained the upper hand. Gao Qiqian paced and shook his head: "No, he's not trying to solve the problem."

Let the soldiers take the captive heads in exchange for rewards. If he captures the pass, shouldn't the Miyun soldiers come to him to exchange for rewards?
How could there be such a stupid person who would kill the Eastern Tartars himself, give the heads to others, and then let those others exchange them for the reward money?

At this moment, Gao Qiquan suddenly realized a huge problem.

The reward for the head of the Eastern Tartar has always been very high, because the heads are hard to come by. This time Liu Chengzong defeated an army of 60,000 at once. If they are not fake, how many heads would he get?

If the soldiers really exchanged them for rewards, even if it was only 6,000 of them, it would cost 300,000 taels.

What if the emperor can’t come up with the money?
"Quick, quick, quick, quickly issue an order to all the forts and checkpoints in Jizhen. Border troops are not allowed to leave without permission! Anyone who leaves without permission will be executed... Damn it, it's not appropriate to behead too many people who leave without permission."

All of a sudden, Gao Qiqian was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. Even the deputy general Chen Chaochong beside him was annoyed and asked, "Master Gao, this fool... If Liu Chengzong is really going to fight this battle, why don't we go out of the pass first and take his head?"

"This is not a matter of brains, it's a matter of money. If the emperor has no money, shouldn't we help him?"

Gao Qiqian urged, "Hurry up, hurry up, Commander Chen, get someone to give the order, it will be too late if we are late!"

In fact, it's too late.

The Xixie Forts in Jizhen had the experience of receiving two captive heads for the first time. When the Marshal's cavalry drove the carriage over for the second time, the officers led their teams out of the pass, guarding against the Marshal's troops while lining up to receive the heads.

"Come, come, bring the heads. This is the Grand Marshal's reward for you for guarding the border. Also bring the stone inscriptions and the list of casualties copied by our army. This battle will show the country's prestige. Pass them back for publication... Also call your highest-ranking official. Minister of Rites Qian Ge Lao is about to return to Beijing. Be ready to meet him." (End of this chapter)