I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 397: The Ming Dynasty Does Not Need Slaves, Only Warriors

It is spring time in the far northeast as well.

In the old place of Fu Yu, on a hill beside the Naowen River, standing here you can see the Fu Yu River winding between heaven and earth, merging into the Naowen River in the distance, and then flowing south.

A red sun rises from the east, illuminating the vast mountains and rivers in red.

Wei Jianping and Gao Ce rode their horses at a trot up the hill, then reined in and walked slowly to Zhou Guotai's side.

"Brother Zhou."

As soon as Wei Jianping spoke, Gao Ce beside him said, "Call the general! It's time to march to war."

Wei Jianping chuckled and said, "General Zhou, what are you looking at?"

Zhou Guotai replied without even turning his head: "Looking at the graceful and magnificent mountains and rivers."

He raised his whip, pointed at the sky and earth and said loudly: "This is the thousands of miles of land we have conquered for the Ming Dynasty. There are big rivers, high mountains, endless grasslands, and impenetrable forests."

Gao Ce looked up as well, his face full of fascination.

Wei Jianping looked at it for a while and muttered, "Everything is there, but there is no one."

Zhou Guotai and Gao Ce couldn't help but turn their heads to look at him.

Gao Ce said, "Brother Bangding, Xiude and I went to the West Garden to meet the Crown Prince, and His Royal Highness asked about you."

Zhou Guotai's face straightened, and he asked solemnly and excitedly: "Your Highness the Crown Prince mentioned me?"

"Yes. His Highness mentioned you as soon as we met. He said that if you hadn't held out in Kaiyuan City for more than 20 days, Liaodong would have been plundered and ravaged by Tumen Khan.

His Highness was very sorry and said that he had originally wanted to summon the three of us, but later heard that you were seriously injured and was worried that the bumpy journey would be unfavorable to you, so he reluctantly removed your name. He said that when Liaodong is safe, he will definitely meet you, the great hero. "

"It's all worth it for me to have your words, Your Highness." Zhou Guotai grabbed the reins and said with a surging heart.

Gao Ce nodded, "God bless the Ming Dynasty, there is a crown prince ruling the country." He looked at Zhou Guotai and Wei Jianping, and said meaningfully, "With the crown prince, we have a place to use our talents. If it is still like before, you and I, my brothers, will probably sleep in the open air at the border, patrol the border day and night, and hope every day that there will be no northern barbarians disturbing the border. We will spend our lives in mediocrity and inaction."

Zhou Guotai and Wei Jianping could not help but nod in agreement after hearing this, "Yes, 'Even if dragons and snakes are in the mud, the long road is for the dullards.'"

"Report!"

Several officers came galloping down the hill on horseback.

Commander Zhou Guotai turned around and asked, "What's the matter?"

"General Xiao from the Central Route sent a report that Tumen Khan led the remnants of his army to flee westwards and should be close to the area east of Moyuer Sea. He has already sent light cavalry to pursue them."

After listening to the report from the military academy, Wei Jianping and Gao Ce couldn't help but turn to look at Zhou Guotai.

"General, it looks like we can no longer eat the big piece of fat meat of Tumen Khan."

“If you can’t eat, you can’t eat.

Since we left Zhenbei Pass, we have captured more than 15,000 scattered Chahar soldiers and horses, and found nearly 10,000 corpses of people who died of freezing or starvation. These are all counted as our military achievements, which is enough. "

Zhou Guotai said to the military academy: "Pass the order down, the entire army will move eastward to carry out the task of clearing out the remnants of the Haixi Jurchens."

"Yes!"

The three of them rode down the hill, and Wei Jianping couldn't help turning his head to look west. "I wanted to see what Moyuer Sea and Xuanming Pool looked like, but it seems that this plan has been wasted again."

"Xiu De, why are you in such a hurry? Mobei is so vast, are you still worried that General Li will take it all? Don't worry, we brothers will have the opportunity to go to Mobei in the future. When that time comes, we will go to Langjuxu Mountain and Yanran Mountain together, climb to the top of the mountain, and recite a poem loudly."

The three of them rode side by side and walked slowly down the hill.

"Okay, Brother Bangding, Changce, which poem shall we recite?"

"It is better to recite the poem by Chen Shiyi of the Tang Dynasty, 'I see no ancients in front of me, and no future generations behind me. Thinking of the vastness of the universe, I am alone and shed tears.'"

"This poem has the artistic conception, but it is a bit sad. We have all climbed Mount Langjuxu and Mount Yanran. What is there to be sad about?"

"Haha, then Xiu De, which poem do you want to recite?"

"We don't recite poetry, we sing a song." "What do you sing?"

"When the Wolf Mountain is in the air, of course we have to sing this song, 'The four barbarians are protected, and the Chinese are healthy. The country is peaceful, and the joy is endless.'"

Wei Jianping started singing, and Zhou Guotai and Gao Ce followed suit, "With the protection of heaven, there will be no limit. Love each other for a hundred years, and each of us will live longer."

The melodious singing voice floats among the distant mountains and rivers.

Two days later, Gao Ce pointed to a large area of ​​hills and grass in front of him and said, "According to the map, the Wuzhe troops are in front of us. To the north is the Heilongjiang River, and to the south is the Songhua River and the Shangjing Huining City (east of Harbin) of the Former Jin Dynasty."

Zhou Guotai nodded and said, "I've been here before. To the left is the Wuzhe Vanguard, here is the Wuzhe Rear Guard, to the northeast is the Wuzhe Left Guard, and to the south is the Wuzhe Guard. They were all established in the name of Wuzhe when the Nurgan Regional Command was established, and have been abandoned for many years.

A thousand miles further east, the Songhua River merges into the Heilong River, and the Nurgan City at the estuary is not far away. It is reported that the Navy Bureau will dispatch five ships in the spring to find the estuary according to the longitude and latitude provided by the surveying team that followed us last year, and then go upstream.

Then they will wait for us at the confluence of the Asu River (Ussuri River) and the Heilong River. The boat will carry a large amount of construction materials and tools, and we will use the two or three months of summer to build a garrison city at the former Xishen Garrison (Boli) where the two rivers meet.

It will become the easternmost garrison city where we guard the land west of the sea."

Wei Jianping asked curiously: "Why not build a fortress at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River? It would be great if the river could connect to the sea."

Zhou Guotai shook his head: "It's too cold over there. It's good to have three or four months of warm weather a year. Most of the time it's freezing cold and we can only hide in the house. It's very dangerous to go out.

Xishenwei is a bit stronger. You can go directly to Changbai Mountain through the Asu River, or go up the Heilongjiang and Songhua Rivers to get here, go deep into the hinterland of Haixi, or go down the river to the sea. "

Gao Ce echoed, "The people from the Surveying and Mapping Bureau of the Rong government have weighed it back and forth and feel that in the first stage of controlling the Haixi area, we should build a city in Xishenwei, build another city (Tongjiang) where the Songhua River flows into the Heilongjiang River, and build a city in Qianjin Huining City. Basically, we can control the overall situation."

Zhou Guotai said: "Yes, the Liaodong military strategy is to advance step by step. I heard from Governor Tan and Governor Wei that the court is planning to set up a Jilin Provincial Administration Office in the old Jianzhou area and part of the old Haixi area, and the Liaodong Governor will temporarily manage it. Build a city and open up wasteland to settle the Jurchens."

Suddenly, the sound of women and children crying was heard in the distance.

Zhou Guotai and the other two raised their eyebrows and rode over with their personal guards.

When I got closer, I found that there were more than 200 Jurchen women and children, all of them were ragged, pale and thin. There were only women in their twenties and thirties, and children between seven or eight and thirteen or fourteen years old. There was no sight of the commonly seen elderly people and children.

They were surrounded by hundreds of Ming cavalrymen, huddled together, and looking very frightened. Among them was a boy of about thirteen or fourteen years old, with a scar on his face and a short blade in his hand, standing in front with seven or eight other boys.

The scarred boy was the most ferocious, gritting his teeth and ready to die together with the others. The seven or eight boys behind him were also uneasy, but with the scarred boy's encouragement, they bravely stood behind him, holding bone spears, wooden sticks and other weapons, facing the Ming cavalry that was circling around them.

Zhou Guotai raised his voice and asked, "What's going on?"

"Reporting to the commander, this is a group of Haixi Jurchens who ran down from the mountains and forests. They stole one of our war horses, killed it and ate the meat. We found them and surrounded them."

"Ask an interpreter."

"Yes!"

The interpreter stepped forward and changed three or four dialects before finally getting through. He then turned to Zhou Guotai and reported, "General, these Jurchens belong to a branch of the Huerha tribe.

Last year, all the male members of the tribe who were over fourteen years old followed Tumen Khan's envoys to the south to make a fortune. They were said to return before the first heavy snow, but they did not.

They hid in the dense forest for a whole winter and endured most of the spring. The old people and children in the tribe died of starvation and disease one after another, leaving only these women and teenagers.

Zhou Guotai hesitated for a moment and said to the interpreter: "Tell them that they are now citizens of the Ming Dynasty. The court will give them a place to live, food to eat, and clothes to wear."

The interpreter mumbled something and then turned to say, "They asked if they were to be slaves. They would rather die than be slaves.

Their tribe moved north here because they didn’t want to be slaves of the Yehe tribe.”

Zhou Guotai laughed, pointed at the boy and asked, "What's his name?"

"His name is Enahu, which means little tiger in the local dialect."

"Tell the little tiger that the Ming Dynasty does not need slaves, only warriors."

"General, Little Tiger asks, what can the Ming warriors do?"

Zhou Guotai replied, "Tell him that if he becomes a warrior of the Ming, he will have his own horse, his own bow and arrows, and his own long sword. His family will be well fed and clothed, and have a place to live. Every drop of blood he sheds for the Ming will be well rewarded."

After hearing the interpreter's words, Little Tiger and his companions looked at each other, slowly put down their weapons, and shouted: "Warrior, warrior!"

(End of this chapter)