The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 150 Qiao Yiqi's Choice
After Huang Taiji led the Later Jin troops to retreat, Qiao Yiqi launched a land enclosure movement in Kuandian. In just two months, he occupied 500,000 mu of farmland.

It was only because General Qiao's knife was sharp enough that a thousand Kaiyuan soldiers gathered in this small Liaodong city. Even if there was a real dragon in Kuandian, it would have to curl up.

Under the powerful threat of force, the enclosure went smoothly, and Ding Bi and Li Ruzhen's land was soon transferred to Kaiyuan.

The reason is of course since ancient times.

As the second generation of the Donglin family, Qiao Yiqi has a fortune. Sometimes, the difference between rich people is greater than the difference between people and dogs.

Also rich people.

Tong Yangxing, the richest man in Fushun, and Ding Bi, the lieutenant general of Tieling, began to slaughter the Han people in various ways after achieving financial freedom, causing rivers of blood to flow in Liaobei.

If Tong Yangxing had not met the time traveler, he would have led his artillery unit (Wuzhenhachao) all the way from Shanhaiguan to Lancang River, from north to north, killing his Han compatriots in a sea of blood.

In comparison, the pursuit of Qiao Dazui, the second generation of Donglin, was much more tame. Qiao Yiqi, who had no worries about food and drink, spent three thousand taels of silver to buy himself a military examination in the 25th year of the Wanli reign.

This gentleman did not want to make money by relying on the title of military scholar - in the late Ming Dynasty, the title of military scholar was almost common.

When he was young, Mr. Qiao's pursuit was to be both civil and military and leave his name in history.

So after Nurhaci raised the flag of rebellion in Liaodong in the 46th year of Wanli, Qiao Yiqi rushed to the battlefield of Sarhu without hesitation like a moth to a flame, risking his life.

Historically, after the Eastern Route Army was annihilated, Qiao Yiqi led his troops to retreat to Dripping Cliff. To avoid being captured and handed over to the Later Jin by his good brother Jiang Hongli, General Qiao led a dozen of his household servants and threw themselves off the cliff, a tragic sacrifice for their country.

No matter in which dimension, this Mr. Qiao can be considered a hero.

As Ping Liao Hou won victory after victory, Qiao Yiqi began to dream of building an empire and saving the people of the world, and began to walk the great road with Ping Liao Hou.

In short, Joe Big Mouth never thought of rebelling.

The reason is very simple. He himself was born into a wealthy family of landlords and had a lot of wealth. There was no reason for him to rebel against himself.

After the Battle of Hunhe, Qiao Yiqi, commanding a large army (2,000 soldiers), entered Kuandian. He refrained from ruthlessly slaughtering the local tyrants and evil gentry who held large amounts of land; instead, he treated these wealthy individuals with great courtesy. The Kuandian garrison only seized the local assets of Ding Bi and Li Ruzhen, while not touching a single penny from the other wealthy individuals.

Two months passed, and Qiao Dazui hadn't killed many people. Qiao Yiqi, a civil servant who loved to pretend to be cultured, and with his lazy nature, he was the polar opposite of Liu Zhaosun. While Ping Liaohou was working himself to death, Dazui was spending his days with a group of literati in Kuandian, reciting poems and composing romantic odes, enjoying a comfortable life.

It's a pity that Kuandian is a barbaric place, literature is declining, the quality of beautiful girls is too poor, and ordinary prostitutes are not in the eyes of General Qiao. In short, it is the objective conditions that hinder his poetic sentiment.

Otherwise, Qiao Yiqi would have written several romantic poems that have been passed down to the world and recorded here by the author.

No one expected that such a harmless and ignorant military supervisor would be assassinated.

It can be seen that good people are not rewarded in this world.

This is a long story, but after the spring, enclosure began simultaneously in Qinghe and Fushun. Qiao Yiqi felt that the situation in Kuandian had calmed down, and all that remained was to implement the policy of "transforming the barbarians into Chinese." So, despite the objections of his captains, he dispatched troops to the two cities of Qinghe and Fushun.

He sent soldiers to assist local civil officials in distributing land. Furthermore, Qiao Dazui also placed foreign Mongolians, the Yehe people, in Kuandian. It's said that Huang Taiji had taken a large number of people with him when he returned to Hetuala, leaving Kuandian without anyone to farm. This is why he ignored the soldiers' objections and implemented the policy of "transforming the Xia into the Yi" by recruiting foreigners of various ethnic groups into Kuandian.

As a result, when General Qiao was reciting poems and composing essays with the literati, he was spotted.

Qiao Yiqi was different from Kang Yingqian in that he usually traveled in a simple manner with few guards. When the main force of the Kaiyuan troops was transferred to Qinghe, Fushun.

The opportunity has come.

Taking advantage of the fact that General Qiao's guards were lax, the killer sent two local thugs to ambush him at the north gate. They shot General Qiao to death with heavy arrows.

Qiao Yiqi, who was sitting in the sedan chair, was shot and fainted on the spot.

His life or death is still unknown.

After the assassination, the surrendered Yehe Mongols who had been recruited to Kuandian immediately rebelled. The assassination of General Qiao plunged the newly surrendered town into chaos.

The foreign tribes instigated the Liao people to besiege the Kaiyuan soldiers stationed in the city. With only 100 soldiers left in Kuandian, the situation suddenly became extremely serious.

One hundred soldiers guarded the injured Qiao Yiqi and retreated to the Bingbei Dao Yamen. Two captains desperately blocked the gate to stop the frantic attack of the foreign Mongols.

The spearmen and the Mongols charged at each other, and soon men fell. A group of night warriors rushed out of the military preparation office, seeking help. In the end, only this night warrior escaped.

~~~~~~~~
"How is General Qiao's injury? Is he in danger?"

After listening to Ye Bushou's report, Liu Zhaosun asked anxiously.

The Later Jin forces had just retreated, and Kuandian City must be full of spies. It would be basically impossible to defend it with more than a hundred people guarding the four gates.

If we stay at the Bingbei Dao Yamen, we might be able to survive as long as the other party doesn't set fire to it.

"The arrow hit Lord Qiao's calf. The military physician said that his calf may not be saved."

Ping Liaohou immediately asked Pei Dahu to find Old Song and ask him to take his medicine box and go to Kuandian with everyone else.

"Why let so many foreign Mongols into the city?"

"Your Excellency, General Qiao said he wants to transform the barbarians into Xia."

Liu Zhaosun was speechless.

"Who ordered those two assassins? They're so bold!"

After hearing this, Yuan Chonghuan was also furious. He had just returned from Kuandian last year and did not expect such a big thing to happen.

Yuan Chonghuan and Qiao Yiqi had a very good relationship. Both of them were from the south and had similar personalities. They were both talkative.

The only difference is that Yuan Chonghuan would not share his secrets anytime and anywhere.

On the eve of the bloody battle of Hunhe, the two men went to Liaoyang together, were beaten together, returned to Kaiyuan together, and defeated Huang Taiji together.

Ye Bushou naturally didn't know which force ordered the assassin.

He stammered, "Some say it was the Jiannu, some say it was the local gentry in Kuandian, and some say it was the Mongols." Ping Liaohou interrupted him with a wave of his hand, looked around, and shouted, "Don't ask. It doesn't matter who did it!"

He paused for a moment and continued, "No matter who ordered this, we must stand up for General Qiao this time!"

At that moment, Liu Zhaosun ordered the cavalry of the cavalry camp to gather.

Upon hearing the news, Burhanggu immediately dispatched 300 elite cavalrymen, each with three horses, to accompany the central army guards and march towards Kuandian. At the same time, the Kaiyuan War Barracks sent three groups of cavalrymen to the three cities of Qinghe, Fushun and Tieling.

Ping Liaohou ordered the troops in the three regions to strengthen their defenses to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the opportunity to launch a surprise attack in the coming days. He also instructed Qi Jin, Qin Jianxun, and others to continue to intensify their training and not let the incident in Kuandian disrupt their progress.

The defense of Kaiyuan City is under the charge of three thousand veterans from the headquarters. In case of emergency, Qi Jin and Deng Changxiong can take command of the entire army.

After arranging all this, Ping Liaohou finally felt relieved and rode his horse towards the southeast.

Kuandian is six hundred miles away from Kaiyuan.

Kuandian was under the jurisdiction of Dongningwei. After Nurhaci's rise to power, it became the heart of the Later Jin Dynasty.

In addition, Kuandian faces North Korea across the river, making its geographical location extremely important.

Managing Korea is naturally inseparable from Kuandian. This is the key point for Ping Liaohou's next phase of development, so there is no room for error.

Ten months ago, Liu Zhaosun led the Eastern Army through twists and turns, fled from Hunjiang to Kuandian, and finally arrived in Kaiyuan.

Now, he will retrace his steps and return to the place he visited at the beginning of his journey.

This may be the so-called reincarnation. However, when Liu Zhaosun returned to Kuandian this time, he was no longer the small captain who only knew how to fight and kill.

The second year of Taichang will be another bloody year.

The first battle of this year will be in Kuandian.

From Kaiyuan to the southeast, the route was mostly hilly, making the march easier and the cavalry in better condition. After crossing the Hunjiang River and leaving the Songliao Plain, the terrain gradually rose and the mountain roads became more rugged and difficult to travel.

The two elite cavalrymen stepped on empty air on the mountain path, fell off a cliff, and landed in the surging river.

Ping Liaohou watched the cavalry and war horses disappear on the river surface, and knowing that no rescue was possible, he ordered Burhanggu and his men to slow down and watch their step.

This was the only casualty in the Battle of Kuandian.

The group traveled day and night and finally arrived in Kuandian three days later.

Compared to when I passed by here half a year ago, the Kuandian City in front of me is even more dilapidated.

The dilapidated city walls had not been repaired, the moat was filled with snow and had basically dried up, and the few villages that had been scattered outside the city were now in ruins.

The scouts found out that the foreigners in the city had not dispersed, and there were still many Mongols around the military preparation office.

Ping Liaohou immediately ordered the cavalry to attack along the west gate.

The Mongols were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the Ming army. They were impressed by the Kaiyuan cavalry and fled in all directions after any resistance.

~~~~~
At the Bingbei Dao Yamen, Ping Liao Hou finally met Qiao Yiqi.

Qiao Yiqi and his men were besieged by the Mongols for six days, their food and water supplies cut off, and they were at the end of their rope.

Seeing that Qiao Yiqi was seriously injured, he asked Old Song to treat him.

On that day, General Liu led the cavalry to sweep around Kuandian and drove away all the lingering Mongols.

Finally, he rode his horse to Tiger Mountain east of Kuandian City, where the 3,500 soldiers of the Eastern Army who died in the battle were buried at the foot of Tiger Mountain.

Here, across the river, we face North Korea's Yuchi Island and the ancient city of Yizhou.

The stone tablet carved by Qiao Yiqi for the heroic spirits of the Eastern Route Army was smashed into two pieces and fell to the ground, with weeds growing all around it.

Liu Zhaosun recalled the scene when the bodies of soldiers were transported to Kuandian in the 47th year of Wanli.

Deng Qilong, Yuan Jianlong, and many other nameless Ming army soldiers were lying quietly here.

Liu Zhaosun stood in front of thousands of heroes. Jin Yuji handed him a pot of wine. He raised the pot upside down, poured the wine on the ground and burned paper money.

Thinking of the three hundred servants who had followed him into the battle, and now only Pei Dahu and a few others are left, he couldn't help feeling sad.

After the memorial service, he led everyone back to the city.

Under Old Song's care, Qiao Yiqi's health has obviously recovered a lot and his face has regained color.

Old Song said that General Qiao was not seriously injured and would be fine after the arrow wound healed.

"General Qiao, if the arrow wound ruptures, you'll die. That happened to a patient last time, and he almost died."

Ping Liaohou asked everyone around him to leave and whispered to Qiao Yiqi, "I came to Kuandian this time to deal with these wealthy families."

Qiao Yiqi gritted his teeth, suppressing the pain in his body, and said angrily, "Okay, it's time to deal with them!"

"General Qiao, you were so lenient towards these wealthy and powerful people, but in the end, you almost lost your life."

"Actually, I'm just like you. I fought a bloody battle at Hunhe River and finally defeated the Jiannu. I didn't expect the imperial court's reward to not arrive..."

Ping Liaohou was lost in thought, recalling everything he had seen and heard on the battlefield of Sarhu. Finally, he returned to reality and looked up at Qiao Yiqi.

"General Qiao, to be honest, I came to Kuandian this time for two reasons: one is to save you, and the other is to ask General Qiao what he thinks about further development in Kaiyuan."

Liu Zhaosun was worried that Qiao Yiqi might not understand, so he added:
"Inspector Kang and Chief Inspector Yuan both support me. They are quite dissatisfied with the court. I hope Inspector Qiao will stand with us."

(End of this chapter)