The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 141: Brutal Soldiers and Marriage

As the Lunar New Year approaches, the Liaodong Plain is frozen cold. Field work has long ceased, the ground frozen harder than iron. This is the coldest time of year, a time for hibernation, when a wife and children are the norm.

Ping Liaohou was not so lucky.

It has been five or six days since I went home to play with the two girls, and I have been running around outside in the severe cold every day.

During the day, he trained soldiers and discussed the establishment of a trading company with Yuan Chonghuan and Sun Chuanting. At night, he lived in the military camp and slept in his general's tent.

As the commander-in-chief of the Kaiyuan Army, although he had the assistance of his subordinates, Liu Zhaosun still had to do many things himself.

Every night before going to bed, he would look at the map of Liaodong over and over again and mark it carefully. Sometimes he was so exhausted that he was too lazy to take off his armor and fell asleep while sitting until Zhang Chao came and covered him with a blanket.

"Zhu Yuanzhang was full of energy. No wonder he started with only one bowl and ended up becoming the emperor. I'm not as good as him."

Now that he has occupied the five cities of Liaodong, he feels overwhelmed. I wonder how Zhu Yuanzhang, who is busy with all kinds of affairs, managed to hold on.

~~~~~
Qi Jin continued to be busy recruiting and training soldiers.

After the Battle of Hunhe, people from all over northern Zhili came to join the army. By the 13th day of the 12th lunar month, the total number of peasant soldiers who had signed up exceeded 8,000.

With so many people, a mixed bag is inevitable, like a pile of sand on a beach, which collapses when the water rushes in. Qi Jin conducted a preliminary screening of the recruits, weeding out the disobedient and unproductive soldiers. His mission was to screen the troops for Ping Liaohou, squeezing out the water from the sand and training a truly strong army.

Ping Liaohou told Qi Jin the bottom line: out of the eight thousand men, only two thousand should be kept, and the rest should be eliminated.

The key to success is not quantity but quality.

Of course, those who are eliminated can also serve as auxiliary soldiers as long as they have good character, are hard-working and have outstanding performance.

The treatment of auxiliary soldiers was worse than that of combat soldiers, and each person could only be allocated 20 mu of land.

The weather was so cold that the villagers could not work in the fields, but the new soldiers could not stop training. The saying "training in the coldest days of winter" was not just talk.

Later generations commented on Qi Jiguang: "In the late Ming Dynasty, when talking about generals and commanders, who had both civil and military talents, most people recommended Nan Tang (Qi Jiguang)."

Military texts such as "Jixiao Xinshu" and "Lianbing Shiji" were written relatively early, and by the middle of the Wanli reign, they had become popular throughout the nine frontier regions and the interior, being revered as guiding principles by many generals. Ping Liaohou, the adopted son of Liu Jing, had been familiar with the Mandarin Duck Formation since his teenage years.

Of course, compared with Qi Jin, his level of skill is nothing.

Qi Jin inherited General Qi's true skills and was more professional in selecting soldiers, organizing troops, and granting weapons than Liu Zhaosun, who changed his career halfway.

The military training was scheduled to be held at the large parade ground at the east gate of Kaiyuan. Under Qi Jin's persuasion, the recruits reduced the proportion of long-distance running training and increased the drum and bugle formation exercises, with the training intensity being one exercise every five days.

Exercises every three days was the limit of military training in ancient times. Although Ping Liaohou was eager to achieve success, he could not force things, otherwise he would only get half the result with twice the effort.

As the training continued, some people soon became physically exhausted and were eliminated. After half a month, more than 500 people could no longer hold on, and half of them were driven out of Kaiyuan.

The remaining recruits trained even harder, and after another group was eliminated, the remaining ones were finally able to follow the drumbeats, line up in formation, and march forward.

Liu Zhaosun was quite satisfied with the progress of the training of new recruits, so he handed the training over to Qi Jin. During this period, his work focus also shifted from military affairs to civil affairs.

~~~
In addition to Jing'an Fort, there were 32 other garrisons surrounding Kaiyuan. Each garrison housed a population ranging from 30 to 40 people, up to 200 to 300, for a total population exceeding 3,000. When the Plain White Banner attacked Kaiyuan, most of these households retreated into the city, preventing much loss.

Because the Kaiyuan system previously separated the military and civilians, the garrisons and the battles did not affect each other. As professional soldiers, the combat soldiers only focused on fighting, while the Liao people who were allocated land devoted themselves to farming.

Ping Liaohou had no intention of training these Liao people. Most of them were elders who had followed him since Hunjiang, and Liu Zhaosun knew many of them personally. To put it bluntly, these were the most loyal of his descendants, people he could completely trust.

Since they have followed him for so long and never left him, it is impossible for Ping Liaohou to abandon them.

Civil officials accompanied the inspection. Ping Liaohou had a high prestige among the Liao people. Wherever he went, he would arouse enthusiastic cheers from the residents.

However, during the inspection, some problems gradually surfaced. Ping Liaohou had always been quite tolerant of these old brothers and did not discipline them as strictly as he did the soldiers.

Unexpectedly, within just two months of his absence, all sorts of problems had already arisen among the thirty-two village chiefs, primarily corruption and dereliction of duty. In one garrison in eastern Kaiyuan, a village chief had spent a full two months, since the bloody battle at Hunhe River, and had yet to complete the surveying of his 2,000 mu (approximately 1,000 acres) of farmland, let alone distribute it to the new refugees.

Another village chief falsely claimed that a village ox had died of illness and fraudulently obtained 1 taels of silver from Sun Chuanting to buy the ox. According to Ming Dynasty law, "if a working ox dies, a replacement must be purchased" (Note ). After receiving the silver, the village chief did not buy the ox, but instead squandered it all, and at the last minute, he collected money from the villagers to buy the ox.

If it weren't for Ping Liaohou's personal inspection, this matter would have continued to be concealed.

The sick and dead ox was transferred from Shenyang by Xiong Jinglie half a year ago. Recalling the past, Xiong Tingbi had spared no effort to support him, and he couldn't help feeling sad. According to the Kaiyuan military law, Liu Zhaosun beheaded the captain of the village and displayed his head to the public.

The problem didn't end there. The village chief, upon hearing that the Plain White Banner army was approaching, assumed Kaiyuan would fall, and so, disregarding the civilians, fled. While fleeing, he was captured by the Night Watchmen. Qiao Yiqi didn't have time to convict the two men and imprisoned them.

In front of hundreds of villagers, Lin Yu wielded a knife and killed two people.

Killing three people in one day was enough to establish his authority. At the same time, Ping Liaohou rewarded five village chiefs who had done their job well and protected the people.

Five people were made role models and each was rewarded with thirty taels of silver. Among them was a young village chief named Hu Quan, who led his villagers to ambush and kill Jiannu scouts during the Battle of Kaiyuan, intercepting intelligence and making great contributions.

The Marquis of Ping Liao immediately promoted Hu Quan to the position of Civil Affairs Officer of Kaiyuan City, responsible for assisting the Chief Civilian Officer in managing logistics. While the position of Kaiyuan Village Chief was humble, lacking even a rank, if one performed well, they could be directly promoted to Civil Affairs Officer. It wasn't impossible for him to become General Liu's right-hand man in the future. This was worth ten years of hard study for a scholar.

Therefore, the position of village chief is something that many people compete fiercely for.

On the 20th day of the 12th lunar month, Liu Zhaosun, along with officials such as Kang Yingqian and Yuan Chonghuan, hosted five outstanding village chiefs for lunch at Jing'an Fort. The table was filled with simple, home-cooked dishes, but this meal was of great significance to the five village chiefs present.

In the next few days, Liu Zhaosun promoted a group of young people to fill the vacant positions.

After a series of operations using both kindness and force, Ping Liaohou's prestige reached an unprecedented high, and at the same time, he also firmly grasped the power of civil government in his own hands.

~~~~~
The imperial concubine sent people to deliver ginseng soup and cordyceps every few days, asking her husband to take care of himself and instructing General Liu to stay out of the house and wait until spring to do anything else. Ping Liaohou gave all the nourishing soup and medicine to the wounded soldiers, and every two days he went to the wounded camp to personally feed the wounded soldiers soup and change their dressings.

Kang Yingqian traveled all the way from Sarhu, where he saw Liu Zhaosun taking care of the wounded soldiers. Only then did he realize that he was not acting, but truly loved his soldiers like his own sons.

One day at the end of December, Military Supervisor Kang arrived at the residence of Marquis Ping Liao early, avoiding Jin Yuji and Yang Qinger, and persuaded:
"Let's not talk about Bumbutai. If we raise her for a few more years, both the Imperial Concubine and the Korean maid will be able to have children, especially Jin Yuji. Looking at her figure...if we can establish an heir sooner, everyone will feel at ease."

Liu Zhaosun was speechless.

I don’t know what Kang Yinggan is thinking. He is so busy every day that he is almost dying. How can he have the leisure time to indulge in romance?

Kang Yingqian knew that he didn't like women, so he rolled his eyes and said:
"General Liu, you are now the Marquis of Ping Liao. You have money and food, a strong army, and supporters in the court. You are truly a local lord. It will not be difficult for you to conquer the world in ten years. If the two wives of the imperial edict, no matter who they are, can give birth to a little marquis, it will be icing on the cake. Madam Yang is already sixteen years old, it is just right..."

The time traveler had little knowledge of ancient patriarchal ethics and could not understand what Kang Yingqian was saying. He simply assumed the old man was trying to sell his Vajra Powder again, so he turned and left to discuss trade with Korea with Yuan Chonghuan. He heard that Jin Dajiu had sent someone again.

"General Liu!"

Kang Yingqian suddenly raised his voice, and Ping Liaohou was startled.

"Look at these officials, civilians, and soldiers below. Who wouldn't want to fight for a better future with you? They're all risking the execution of their entire clans and shouldering enormous responsibilities! They're not just after your few taels of silver! Whether you rebel in the future or become the King of Liaodong, how can anyone be at ease if you don't have an heir?!"

Liu Zhaosun looked at General Kang in confusion, savoring the words carefully.

"Let me tell you something unpleasant. If you were assassinated by the Jinyiwei today, with no one to succeed you, Kaiyuan would fall apart within half a month, and countless lives would be lost. I, and Yuan Chonghuan, would be taken back to the capital and executed by slow slicing! How could you have the heart to do that?"

Liu Zhaosun shook his head.

Kang Yinggan showed a teachable expression, walked up to Liu Zhaosun, patted him on the shoulder, and took out a colorful small bottle from somewhere.

"General Liu, how can you not return to the General's Mansion every day? The New Year is coming soon. Stay in the mansion for the next few days and don't come out. Leave the outside affairs to me and Lord Yuan. Go back and concentrate on accompanying your beautiful wife and concubines."

"Come on, take this. This is the Diamond Powder I always tell you about. Take two pills before bed. It's perfect. Give birth to a little marquis sooner rather than later. It will reassure everyone and give the people below more motivation to rebel! Don't you agree? If you don't like your wife, you can let your concubine give birth. It's okay to take a concubine first and then marry a wife. It's not like there are no such rules in our Ming Dynasty."

Notes: (1) Ming Hui Dian, 202; Ministry of Works, 22; Tuntian Qingli Si, Cattle

(End of this chapter)