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On the eve of the Lunar New Year, there were no beacon fires at the camps of the Yongyi Army.

From Jining and Jinxiang to Jiaxiang and Juye, then to Yuncheng and Anxingji, and finally to Wenshang County, Gaopingshan, Shijiazhuang and Luqiao Town, the camps in these places were devoid of bright red lanterns, firecrackers and fireworks, lively folk dances, and festive atmosphere.

However, all the brave soldiers felt a warm New Year's atmosphere. In addition to everyone having a bowl of pork dumplings and meat soup, the Earl of Yongning also gave each soldier a New Year's red envelope: five coins for supply soldiers and auxiliary soldiers, one ounce for chariot soldiers and artillery soldiers, two ounces for infantry soldiers, and three ounces for cavalry soldiers.

Although what they received were military notes and silver dollars, they could be directly exchanged for commonly circulated silver and copper coins at the merchant caravans accompanying the army. This was an extremely important function of the caravans led by managers Cheng Ruzhi and Xu Qingyi.

After all, the army was often stationed in the field, and even if they had cash and copper coins, they could not find a place to buy things. The soldiers did not even have a place to spend the wages they received, let alone such holiday rewards.

Furthermore, when a large army is fighting abroad, the most important supplies are food, gunpowder, and cannons. Why would they carry large amounts of silver and copper coins?

Therefore, the Yongyi Army always paid its soldiers and rewarded them primarily in military notes, with silver dollars as a secondary measure. Sometimes, the money was simply recorded in the books and then transferred to the soldiers' families by the local military government in Xuanfu.

Of course, this method of paying frontline soldiers but having their families back home sign for the payment is something only the Yongyi Army in the entire Ming Empire could do. It requires the soldiers to have immense trust in their commander; otherwise, it would be impossible.

If this method of having frontline soldiers' pay received by their families were adopted in the armies of other garrison commanders in the Ming Dynasty, the soldiers would probably have killed their officials and rebelled on the spot.

After all, other town leaders don't have this credibility, nor do they have the ability to control the local area, let alone the guarantee mechanism for such an operation. How could they possibly do it?

The situation is different for Marquis Yongning, Zhang Cheng. Looking at the entire Xuanfu Town, and even in the neighboring Datong Town, farmland, pastures, mines, and so on are almost all under the direct control of Marquis Yongning, with Xuanda Merchants everywhere providing commercial support.

Furthermore, the Yongyi Army has a tradition of never defaulting on pay, and its firm implementation of pensions and preferential treatment policies has earned the great trust of the soldiers. As a result, nearly half of the frontline soldiers in the Yongyi Army do not receive pay.

They all knew the dangers of war and were afraid that they would die on the battlefield while carrying their pay. They thought it would be better to let their families receive the pay directly, since everyone joined the army to fight so that their families could have land to cultivate and food to eat.

…………

On the first day of the first month of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, Li Jiyu's Xuanwu Camp, stationed in Luqiao Town on the shore of Dushan Lake, set off south along the Huitong River towards Hanzhuang and Taizhuang to reinforce Huai'an Prefecture.

On the same day, Luo Rucai led Cao's soldiers out of Jining Prefecture. They split into two groups and marched southwest. One group went south into Xuzhou Prefecture, and after recapturing Feng County, they marched to Pei County to garrison.

The other route crossed the Yellow River at Zhuwangkou in Shanxian County and entered Dangshan County in Xuzhou Prefecture of Southern Zhili, blocking the Jurchens from entering Guide Prefecture.

On the second day, the Earl of Yongning led his troops to garrison in Jining Prefecture, and also temporarily set up his headquarters there to observe the movements of the Jurchens before determining the location for an attack.

On the same day, Yuan Shizhong led his Little Yuan Battalion from Shijiazhuang eastward to Tengxian and then to Yixian, with their destination being Tancheng County, in order to support Li Jiyu's troops who were entering Huai'an Prefecture in Southern Zhili.

On the same day, Zhang Guangda's Zhuque Camp, stationed in the Gaoping Mountain area, also broke camp and marched eastward, heading straight for Yizhou.

On the third day, Wang Pu, the general of Datong, and Jiang Jianxun, the governor of Datong, also led their troops away from Anxingji and headed south to Jinxiang and Yutai to garrison in order to support Luo Rucai's troops who entered Xuzhou Prefecture in Southern Zhili.

On the same day, the three troops originally stationed in Yuncheng, namely Li Fuming, the Shanxi General, Ge Ruzhi, the Xuanzhen Yangbiao, and Pi Zhongyao, the Xuanzhen Fubiao, also left Yuncheng and headed east, crossing the Grand Canal towards Sishui County.

Only the troops under Jiang Xiang, the Assistant Commander-in-Chief of Datong, stationed in Wenshang County, remained stationed in place without taking any action. Meanwhile, the western route of the loyalist army led by Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, also spread out along the Grand Canal, using the pretext of protecting the canal to extend its reach into the water transport.

Moreover, the Earl of Yongning, citing the obstruction of the northern section of the canal by the Jurchens and the excessive risk of transporting grain northward, petitioned the court to convert the obstructed grain into military rations on the spot and to procure grain from other places to relieve the capital's urgent needs. At the same time, he directly seized the grain stored at various granaries along the canal.

This incident also led to another fierce attack on him by officials in the imperial court.

…………

Just as the Earl of Yongning was stationed in Jining City, a military report was delivered to his desk. It was indeed a report from Hu Zichen and Sha Shiguang, "a military report from the Xingtai War Slaves."

It turned out to be the Jurchen army led by Tan Tai, numbering about six or seven thousand, plus the more than fifty thousand refugees they had captured. Their size was considerable, and their fighting strength was formidable.

After capturing Feixiang County, Tan Tai's Jurchen troops first attacked Guangping to the south, and then attacked Yongnian County, the capital of Guangping Prefecture, but failed to capture it. They then moved northwest and captured Linming Town. After resting there for a day, they continued north and captured Shahe County.

Riding the momentum of the Broken Sand River, Tan Tai led his Jurchen army straight towards Xingtai County, the capital of Shunde Prefecture.

On December 26, Tan Tai's Jurchen troops advanced to the city of Xingtai and set up camp in more than ten camps to the east and south of the city.

Shunde Prefect Ji Kongjia immediately summoned his officials to discuss strategies for defending the city. They decided that Shunde Assistant Prefect Chen Jiayin would defend the north city, Judge Feng Jiusi would defend the south city, Xingtai Magistrate Wan Minbiao would defend the east city, and Sub-Prefect Zhang Guoqing would defend the west city.

Meanwhile, Shunde Prefect Ji Kongjia led the central army, including Deng Renhe, to support the defense of the city from all sides and provide assistance at any time.

On the 27th, at dawn, the Jurchens rode their horses around the city, raising clouds of dust that blotted out the sky and created an astonishing spectacle.

The city of Xingtai was surrounded by Jurchens on the west, south, and north sides, along with the captured refugees they drove up. The Xingtai garrison fought back with cannons, crossbows, and long guns from the city walls to resist the Jurchens' attack.

Although many Jurchens were killed or wounded, the Jurchens' arrows were fierce and suppressed the city's defenders for a time, especially the Jurchens on the western side of the city, who were even more ferocious.

Shunde Prefect Ji Kongjia led the central army Deng Renhe to rush to the aid of Xicheng. Even Ji Kongjia's son, Ji Huidi, followed his father to the aid of Xicheng. However, the Jurchens, with the advantage of suppressing the enemy with their bows and arrows, had already climbed onto the city wall.

Niu Wenke, the commander in charge of guarding the western city, was killed in battle. Even Zhang Guoqing, the prefect who was in charge of the city's defense, was wounded and forced to retreat. In this extremely critical moment, Ji Kongjia led Deng Renhe to the western city, and only then was the city barely held.

Just when Prefect Ji Kongjia was in great distress and had nowhere to turn for help, Hu Zichen, who was ordered to return to Zhenbao to recruit soldiers, led a thousand cavalry, five hundred infantrymen, and a thousand five hundred new recruits to Xihuang Village, twenty miles west of Xingtai.

Upon hearing the news that the Jurchens were besieging Xingtai, Hu Zichen sent people to Zhengding Prefecture for help while also contacting Sha Shiguang of Wohu Mountain to prepare for a joint attack on Xingtai.

Early morning of the 28th.

As the sun rose in the east and its rays bathed the earth, a troop of men suddenly appeared in the west of Xingtai City. They marched in formation, each clad in red armor, appearing like celestial warriors descending from the heavens in the morning light… (End of Chapter)