The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 148 Bundling
On the first day of the first lunar month in the first year of the Taichang reign, the heavy snow had just stopped and the sun was rising. The ice and snow had melted in the streets of Kaiyuan City, and the weather was exceptionally cold.

Liu Zhaosun got up early for the New Year, forced himself to be energetic, and began to work hard. The two maids, Yang Qing'er and Jin Yuji, had not gone to bed until the morning, and were now taking a nap.

Bumbutai did not play mahjong with her brothers and sisters all night long. After all, a seven-year-old girl could not stay up late. She went to bed early last night and got up early today.

"Come on, I'll take you to worship our ancestors and see how the Han people celebrate the Spring Festival."

Bumbutai was confused and followed General Liu with her maid Shaoyao. The three of them walked into the main hall.

Marquis Ping Liao kowtowed twice to heaven and earth, and then kowtowed three times and bowed nine times in front of the tablet of his adoptive father enshrined in the main hall.

A cooked sheep's head was respectfully placed before the tablet. Shaoyao brought steamed eggs with rice wine lees and placed them around the sheep's head.

Ping Liaohou took out a stack of paper money from the inner room, placed it in front of his adoptive father's tablet, and prayed loudly:
"Foster father, I killed the chieftain with my own hands and avenged you! Liaodong has been pacified. This year I want to go to the southwest to quell the rebellion, visit the places where you fought before, and walk the roads you walked in your youth. Foster father, you didn't defeat the Burmese back then. If I can gain a foothold in the southwest, I will continue to fight in the future! Please bless me with victory from your spirit in heaven. I will first destroy She Chongming, and then recapture Annan. I will bring back the head of their king as a sacrifice to you!"

Liu Zhaosun stood in front of Liu Jing's tablet and spoke for a long time. He said that his adoptive father had been very kind to him when he was alive. Thinking of the tragic scene when the old man was dying, Ping Liaohou could not help but cry while hugging the tablet.

Shaoyao gave Bumbutai a flying goose made of black gold paper. In Beijing, it was called "nao rao rao" and was worn during Spring Festival when visiting relatives and friends. The little girl, wearing the glittering black gold paper, jumped for joy and ran to the backyard to find Jin Yuji and the others.

~~~~
Deng Changxiong and Wang Erhu came to the general's residence early to wish Ping Liaohou a happy new year. They were carrying candies and tea and were all wearing casual clothes.

General Liu invited the two to sit down for tea and chat about the military expansion and the training that would take place this spring. Ping Liaohou had instructed his two subordinates to expedite the process and strive to train 5,000 combat troops by June. Wang Erhu patted his chest and declared it a non-issue, but Deng Changxiong was speechless. He calculated that there were only five months left, and training 1,000 combat troops per month was a daunting task.
The three chatted for a while, and Ping Liaohou gave two of his men red envelopes containing five taels of silver. Both of them accepted it as a good start.

After sitting for a while, Deng Changxiong and Wang Erhu hurriedly said goodbye, and Liu Zhaosun personally saw them off to the gate of the courtyard.

Guessing that Jin Yuji and the others should have gotten up, he was about to turn around and go back to the house when he saw Qi Jin and Qin Jianxun coming towards the general's residence from afar.

Ping Liaohou accepted their gifts as usual and gave each of them a red envelope of five taels of silver.

Qin Jianxun was from Sichuan, and Liu Zhaosun chatted with him about the Spring Festival customs in Shu.

After the Battle of Hunhe, Qin Jianxun never recovered from the grief of losing his relatives and friends. Liu Zhaosun would chat with Qin Jianxun every now and then, hoping to help him unravel his inner pain.

"General Liu, customs in the north and south are not much different. During the New Year, every household in Shu will hang a new image of Zhong Kui on their door, as if it were Shentu or Yulei. They will also burn incense and yellow paper tablets in a copper censer to honor the deceased, and the ashes of the burned paper cannot be swept away."

Qin Jianxun's tone suddenly became low when he said this, "I wonder how many people in Shizhu will burn yellow paper tablets this year..."

Qi Jin patted him on the shoulder to comfort this fellow White-Pole Soldier who was a dozen years younger than him.

"Brother Qin, the dead cannot be resurrected, so be open-minded. At least we are still alive, and the White Spear Soldiers and Zhejiang Soldiers have left some bloodline. The spirits of your father and uncle in heaven should also be comforted."

Ping Liaohou sighed slightly and said to the two men, "Don't worry, I will find more soldiers and train them well. I won't let the White Spear Soldiers and the Zhejiang Soldiers die out!"

They both looked up at the same time, their faces full of anticipation.

"The people of Liaodong have been displaced. After the spring, a large number of young and strong men will flee to Kaiyuan. I estimate that some Mongols and Yehe people will also come to join us. I will continue to expand the army without any quotas. When the time comes, we can select those veterans who participated in the bloody battle of Hunhe to serve as captains and generals of the new recruits. Both the White Spear and Zhejiang soldiers will be included. I will train a new force of White Spear and Zhejiang soldiers!"

After hearing the encouragement from Ping Liaohou, Qin Jianxun was excited and regained his youthful vigor. He wanted to rebuild the White Spear Army to comfort the spirits of his two closest relatives in heaven.

"I will recruit an additional 4,000 men and place them under your personal training. They must be completed by the middle of the year."

Qin Jianxun's worry turned into joy, and he asked, "General Liu, are you going to attack Hetuala?"

Qi Jin looked puzzled. The army had suffered heavy casualties. If they didn't rest for a while, they would be unable to fight again.

"We must fight the Jiannu. Between Huang Taiji and I, only one of us can stay in Liaodong. However, our current enemy is not in the east, but in the southwest. She Chongming."

Qin Jianxun recognized She Chongming, and upon hearing this, he said viciously:

"This bastard was originally defeated by the White Spear Soldiers, but my father spared his life. I didn't expect him to take advantage of the White Spear Soldiers fighting in Liaodong to start a rebellion in Shu!"

Liu Zhaosun nodded without comment. It seemed that Qin Jianxun was not unfamiliar with She Chongming.

He only knew that this person would launch a rebellion after the White Spear Army came to aid Liao, but he did not know the specific time.

In any case, we must make preparations early so that when the court orders the Kaiyuan army to enter the pass to quell the rebellion, we can remain calm.

The White Spear Soldiers should be more adept at dealing with these rebels, as they excel at mountain warfare. If possible, the Yehe people could also move south to join the battle. The Jurchen soldiers would have a 50-50 chance of winning against the Tusi soldiers.

Liu Zhaosun knew that as long as he fought, he would earn money. The Ming Dynasty also implemented a policy of control in the southwest. The imperial court had almost no control over these chieftains, and this policy of "transforming the chieftains into officials" lasted until the Qing Dynasty.

In the closed environment of the southwest, more than a dozen generations of chieftains accumulated wealth, and the local emperors were all very rich. They also controlled the local economic lifeline, including salt, iron, papermaking, silk, etc.

It's the perfect target for robbery.

If he could intervene in the She'an Rebellion, he could make a fortune just like his adoptive father Liu Jing did. It should be noted that Liu Jing made a fortune in the southwest, and even Emperor Wanli was jealous of him.

More importantly, the Kaiyuan Army could take advantage of this rebellion to expand its influence to the southwest, perhaps even occupying an enclave under the pretext of suppressing the rebellion.

Even if it cannot, it will expand its influence in the southwest region by making friends with local forces and exchanging interests to consolidate and strengthen its own power.

As more White Spear Soldiers were transferred to Liaodong, the She'an Rebellion that originally broke out in the second year of the Tianqi reign became like a time bomb that could explode at any time.

The time travelers dare not slack off or delay for a moment and must train more new troops as soon as possible.

After seeing the two off, Ping Liaohou distributed red envelopes to the guards around him and gave them a few words of encouragement. He especially gave the knight-errant Wu Xiao a large red envelope of ten taels of silver.

In the morning, people came to pay New Year's greetings one after another. Ping Liaohou resisted his sleepiness and greeted and saw off the guests with a smile.

Some of them he knew, others he had never met.

"General Liu, Supervisor Kang has arrived with gifts."

Wu Xiao came in to report.

Kang Yingqian caught a cold last night and couldn't get any wind today. He sent a congratulatory note and an oil-paper gift package. It felt heavy in his hand. It must have contained a lot of silver. "General Kang is really kind to me. He knew I was short of money and sent it here."

Liu Zhaosun was overjoyed and opened the oil paper, talking to himself.

I saw a copy of "Jin Ping Mei" slipping in front of me.

There was also a note stuck to the cover, which read, "Read before bed, supplemented with the secret medicine Vajra Powder, and wish you a baby soon."

～~~
Finally, a local wealthy man came and said he was the cousin of the Liaodong governor. Liu Zhaosun was intimidated by his background and thought he was here to seek an official position.

The governor's cousin had his servant bring a heavy bag of gold nuggets, saying he wanted to marry his daughter to General Liu as a concubine. He didn't want any betrothal gifts, but rather offered him a small amount of money...

Later, I learned that there was a rumor that the Concubine Gaoming was infertile, so someone came up with the evil idea of arranging for Ping Liaohou to take a concubine.

Liu Zhaosun was speechless.

He suspected Kang Yingqian was behind this. By the time he sent these people away, it was already 2:45 PM. Remembering he hadn't eaten yet, he quickly ate a pancake.

After catching up on their sleep, the two maids woke up. Jin Yuji followed Yang Qing'er and, imitating the custom of Han women, wished the emperor a happy new year.

Yang Qing'er was like an etiquette expert, constantly correcting Jin Yuji's posture and movements.

Liu Zhaosun gave each of them a big red envelope of twenty taels of silver, which was enough for the sisters to spend on cosmetics for a year.

"Didn't you lose all your money playing mahjong last night?"

Yang Qing'er was filled with suspicion. Liu Zhaosun, terrified, thought she was going to check his private funds. He quickly said, "General Kang lent me a hundred taels and told me to pay him back a hundred and twenty next month. He was worried I wouldn't have enough money to give my subordinates New Year's gifts."

The wife and the concubine smiled at each other, and the husband must be the poorest general in the Ming Dynasty.

"It's time to go to Cheng'en Gate. I haven't inspected the camp for five or six days. I wonder how the wounded are doing. It's so cold."

As he said that, he went into the house to look for his armor, and Yang Qing'er followed behind him:
"Sir, as the saying goes, it's better to stay at one house than to visit thousands of houses during the New Year's holiday. Let's not go out today and just stay at home. Aren't Captain Deng and the others outside?"

Liu Zhaosun gave himself a seven-day vacation and could no longer hang out with the two girls.

"Soldiers, they are the general's confidants. I've been worried about them for a few days. Go to the kitchen and find some clean dishes. Wrap them in oil paper. I'll take them back to the barracks and feed them to the wounded soldiers."

Yang Qing'er glared at her husband and complained, "My husband, your life is truly toilsome! You don't even have time to rest on New Year's Day!"

She sighed and turned to go inside.

Jin Yuqueji stood still and said, "Sir, I will follow you to Ying'en Gate."

Liu Zhaosun looked puzzled: "Are you feeling better?"

"All right."

"Really okay?"

Jin Yuji moved nimbly, her willow waist swaying as she leaned close to Liu Zhaosun's ear, whispering softly, "Sir, didn't you do the test that night?"

Liu Zhaosun couldn't remember what happened that night. He remembered that he didn't touch the girl at all. He could only touch his head and said after a long time:

"Let's not talk about this anymore. It's better for you to go out. You're bored staying at home all day. Put on your scale armor and your cloak. It's freezing outside the city."

Jin Yuji went in with a smile to change her clothes.

The four of them took a few bags of food and left the General's Mansion, walking along the North-South Street towards the city wall. The streets were bustling with people visiting relatives and friends to wish them a happy new year. Among them were some Yehe people and Mongolians, who imitated the Han people's greetings.

Liu Zhaosun was very pleased. It seemed that his strategy of converting the barbarians into Xia people had begun to bear fruit.

Foreign people admired the customs of the Ming Dynasty and gradually understood Chinese etiquette.

The four of them chatted as they walked, and soon arrived at Ying'enmen Commercial Street. Someone came up and saluted Ping Liaohou.

These Kaiyuan people are all merchants, including Yehe, Mongolian, Korean and others. They have all settled in the city and have their own businesses.

News of the Shenyang massacre last October had already spread among the merchants of Kaiyuan. Although both cities were besieged by the Jiannu, a large city like Shenyang was massacred by the Tartars, while a small city like Kaiyuan managed to remain standing.

Of course everyone knows who is protecting them, protecting their lives and protecting their property.

The people came to wish General Liu a happy new year and stuffed the eggs, candies and tea leaves in their hands into Liu Zhaosun's arms.

Pei Dahu and Wu Xiao stood in front, fearing that someone would have ulterior motives, but no matter how brave they were, they could not stop the enthusiastic people.

Ping Liaohou's arms were soon filled with gift packages of tea, eggs, and other things. He knew that these were gifts from the people, so he couldn't refuse and just held them in his arms.

The three guards had to free up their hands to help Ping Liaohou carry chickens, ducks, tea, candies, and some people even gave him King Kong powder...
Soon, neither Wu Xiao nor Pei Dahu could get Jin Yuji.

I saw a large crowd of people coming from afar, all clamoring to give gifts to General Liu.

Ping Liaohou was helpless. Finally, he jumped onto a stone lion at the street corner and shouted to the crowd:

"My fellow Kaiyuan folks, I appreciate your kindness! I have military duties to attend to today and cannot stay long. I cannot accept many gifts, so I will not accept any later."

"When I first arrived in this city, I said I was here to protect you, and that's what I meant. Whether you're Mongolian, Yehe, or Korean, as long as you abide by the law and do business in Kaiyuan, no rogues will mess with you! No evil officials will oppress you, and no bandits will rob you!"

"Everyone, the Liaodong Trading Company has been established. Just like the officers, you will become shareholders after investing in it. Dividends will be distributed to you at the end of each year. Let's expand the business together and make money together! Remember, Kaiyuan belongs to me, and it belongs to you as well. You are the masters of Kaiyuan. Protect your home well! From now on, no matter who comes, they can't take it away!"

(End of this chapter)