The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 152 Awakening of Insects
Liu Zhaosun, accompanied by Jin Yuji, reined in his horse and stood at the east gate of Kuandian, gazing at the other side of the Yalu River.

"The other side is your homeland. Don't you want to go back and take a look?"

"Do not want to."

"When my father was murdered, my relatives and friends in Seoul took over all my family's land and houses. They treated my brother and me as a burden, looked down on us and bullied us everywhere. It's better not to return to this cold and desolate place."

There is an endless stream of boats traveling back and forth on the Yalu River, and the spring breeze blows across, creating a few ripples on the surface of the river.

Liu Zhaosun felt the chill, so he put his arm around Jin Yuji's slender waist, pointed at the river in the distance, and whispered to her in a low voice:
"Back then, you were still young, helpless and alone. Now, you are General Anyuan, appointed by the Ming Emperor, and a third-rank imperial consort. No one can bully you anymore."

Jin Yuji knew that Liu Zhaosun was going to Korea to seek revenge for Gwanghaegun. She couldn't let him ruin his plan, so she smiled and said, "Since you are going to Korea to seek revenge and do something big, I will accompany you."

Ping Liaohou looked at Jin Yuji's frowning face and couldn't help laughing:
"Kuandian has been pacified, what else is there to worry about? Going to Korea is just for fun. For me, the most important thing right now is to marry a certain woman and have children as soon as possible, otherwise Kang Yingqian will urge me again."

Jin Yuji's face was filled with affection, and two blushes rose on her cheeks.

The Jingzhe Festival in the first year of Taichang falls on the sixth day of the second lunar month. Today, the doors open and a thunderclap calls the Azure Dragon to rise.

Kaiyuan's best fortune teller, Blind Ke, has already predicted the date. He said that on the day of Jingzhe, "the Azure Dragon is in charge of destiny, and the Bright Virtue is in charge of the Golden Chamber."

Simply put, on an auspicious day, everything is suitable, except...

Liu Zhaosun listened and said disapprovingly, "That's the best. On the day of Jingzhe, I will marry Jin Yuji."

"I'm afraid it's inappropriate. I've checked the birth dates of General Liu and Miss Jin...Jin. When searching for a dragon, always look at the winding mountains. Each winding mountain is a hurdle..."

Blind Ke held the bronze seven-star plate in his hand and calculated with his fingers, as if he was possessed by a tomb raider.

Before and after the Waking of Insects, the God of Thunder often goes out to perform tasks, and thunder rumbles loudly. It is not suitable for engagement, blind dates, or marriages.

"Ping Liao Hou Sansi, I have been in Liaodong for many years. The Liao people are very particular about Feng Shui and fortune. There are things like the immortals like Chu Ma, Huang Daxian, Rat Daxian, and Goose Daxian... No one has ever gotten married on the day of Jingzhe. I'm afraid it's not an auspicious day."

Liu Zhaosun dismissed him. "Who cares about the Yellow Dao or the Black Dao? I only believe in the Great Dao. Besides, the thunder of Jingzhe, and surviving a disaster, are exactly what I'm thinking at the moment."

He glanced back at Ke Zhen'e and said with a smile, "Ke Banxian, this astrolabe was used by Xu Xiake to find minerals and veins, not for divination and fortune-telling!"

~~~~
After several days of cracking down on spies, beheading merchants, collecting land taxes, and seizing wasteland, the border town of Kuandian finally returned to stability. At least, on the surface, it was stable.

Less than half a month before the Waking of Insects, Liu Zhaosun hurried back to Kaiyuan to start preparing for his wedding with Jin Yuji.

On the 22nd day of the first lunar month, Jin Dajiu crossed the Yalu River to attend his sister's wedding. When his brother-in-law arrived in Kuandian, Ping Liaohou and General Kang were discussing the rebellion of the chieftains in the southwest.

To be fair, Liu Zhaosun now very much hopes that the southwest war will break out later so that he can give himself more time to prepare.

Wu Xiao said at the door: "General Liu, come to the angel."

When Ping Liaohou heard that Dajiu had arrived, he hurried out to greet him. Jin Dajiu still looked the same as before, but he looked very happy. He must have been living a comfortable life in Korea.

"General Liu, look who I brought here!"

Liu Zhaosun looked up and saw a burly general standing behind his brother-in-law.

"General Jin?"

General Yiliu, Jin Yinghe's eyes turned red, he clasped his hands together, and knelt before Ping Liaohou:
"Master Liu, I am sorry for being late in coming to your rescue. Please forgive me!"

Ping Liaohou quickly helped Jin Yinghe up. General Jin's face was covered with scars, and he looked much more haggard than a year ago.

On the day Jing'an Fort fell, Jin Yinghe led the Korean soldiers to break out to the southeast. On the way, they encountered the main force of the Zhengbai Banner, and the remaining more than 300 Korean archers were all killed.

Jin Yinghe led the remaining troops to flee to Shenyang, but was immediately driven out by Ding Bi and retreated to Dandong. When he retreated to the Yalu River, only the last seven people were left by his side.

He knew he was unable to go north to Kaiyuan, so he crossed the river and returned to Joseon. As expected, after returning to Pyongyang, Kim Eung-ha was imprisoned by Gwanghaegun and awaited execution. His crime was to murder the commander-in-chief.

The soldiers who escaped back to Korea from Kuandian pleaded for mercy for this pro-Ming general. In addition, Gwanghaegun had many opponents in the court, so the execution was delayed until the end of last year.

Finally, Lord Lingyang sent someone to switch the two and rescued Jin Yinghe. After being rescued, Jin Yinghe learned that the bloody battle of Hunhe had ended. Later, Xu Xiake went to Korea and experienced many hardships before finally getting in touch with the Korean angel.

"If General Jin can come back to help me, great things can be accomplished!"

In front of Jin Yinghe, Liu Zhaosun did not hide his ambition at all.

Kim Eung-ha hated Gwanghaegun to the core. He knew that if he did not take action, Korea would sooner or later fall into his hands.

So when he heard that Liu Zhaosun was determined to help Lord Lingyang ascend to the throne, he immediately supported him.

"General Liu was in Kuandian last year, distributing food and wages to the Korean soldiers and sending them across the river back to their country. General Liu, do you know where this group of people is now?" Jin Dajiu asked with a smile, his eyes rolling.

"where?"

Ping Liaohou had almost forgotten about this matter. After hearing what his brother-in-law said, he finally remembered.

At that time, Liu Zhaosun ordered to give each Korean soldier five cents of silver to allow them to cross the Yalu River and return home. This caused great dissatisfaction among many Ming soldiers. "General Liu!"

The brother-in-law looked excited. Liu Zhaosun looked at his expression and found that he was indeed somewhat similar to Jin Yu Ji.

"This army is currently stationed in Pyongyang and Yizhou, both checkpoints for the Ming Dynasty entering Korea. They are deeply grateful to General Liu for saving their lives, and compare him to Bali. (Note 1) Many soldiers have statues of you in their homes. If you lead your troops across the river, no one will stop you."

"My statue? Isn't I still alive?"

Ping Liaohou shook his head blankly, his eyes a little dazed.

Kang Yingqian tugged at Liu Zhaosun and whispered:
"General Liu, don't worry about it. Right now, everyone in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty is building a shrine for your elder brother, and no one objects! What is popularity? This is popularity! It's more useful than anything else!"

"Oh, so this is popularity."

Liu Zhaosun gave silver to the Korean soldiers out of compassion.

Those Korean farmers were farming at home, but in the 47th year of Wanli's reign, they were inexplicably dragged to the Sarhu battlefield.

They followed General Liu Qian, and nearly half of them were killed or wounded in the battle.

Liu Zhaosun felt quite guilty towards the Korean soldiers.

Kang Yingqian clapped his hands and laughed, praising, "What a marvelous combination of fate! General Liu, you always do good things and follow the right path. Now even Korea has your support. This is even better. It will be easier for us to accomplish things in Korea in the future!"

In the next few days, Ping Liaohou secretly discussed the details of the march into Korea with Kim Yinghe, Kim Dae-gu, Kang Yingqian and others.

Under the command of Yangyangjun, Kim Dae-gu has made preparations for a coup. With the support of the Kaewon Army, they can take down Gwanghaegun at any time.

Ping Liaohou knew that Gwanghaegun was eventually exiled to Juehwa Island and died in extreme poverty. Now it seems that this brother's end was even more tragic than in history.

As the wedding was approaching, Song Yingxing and others stationed in Kaiyuan sent out troops one after another to urge Ping Liaohou to return as soon as possible, as many things needed to be prepared.

It's time to go back to Kaiyuan.

On the twenty-eighth day of the first lunar month in the first year of Taichang, Ping Liaohou led Qiao Yiqi, Kang Yingqian and others back along the same route.

Yuan Chonghuan stayed in Kuandian with 800 auxiliary soldiers and 100 combat soldiers. The next tasks were land distribution and military training.

Military training could be left to the veterans and captains. Yuan Chonghuan personally led the enclosure movement.

Yuan Chonghuan was ruthless in killing people. He was currently the Liaodong Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, holding the power of life and death in Liaodong.

Capturing the rebels, interrogating, sentencing and executing them are perfectly connected, making killing people even easier.

Use heavy codes in troubled times.

Ping Liaohou admired Yuan Ducha very much. He believed that Yuan Ducha was a decisive person who never dragged his feet. He would be a talent like a prime minister in the future.

On the first day of February, Ping Liaohou returned to Kaiyuan and began preparing for his marriage before he even had time to rest.

Just as Yang Qing'er said, her life is one of constant travel.

~~~~
Liu Zhaosun only realized how complicated Ming Dynasty weddings were after traveling through time. But since everyone went through the same thing, he couldn't stand out too much.

He asked his old friend Kang Yingqian to be his master of ceremonies and to help him catch up on all the details that needed to be paid attention to in getting married.

"Whenever a commoner marries a son-in-law, he wears ordinary clothes, or fake ninth-rank clothes, and the woman wears flower hairpins and wide sleeves."

Kang Yingqian shook his head and recited for a while. These were all things he had seen in the "Da Ming Hui Dian".

He moistened his throat and said disdainfully, "However, General Liu and Miss Jin are not ordinary people, so you don't need to say anything. Jin Yuji was granted the title of General Anyuan by the Emperor, so her wedding is naturally not comparable to that of ordinary people. It should be more grand. It will inevitably cost a lot of money."

"General Liu, you're going to borrow money from Supervisor Qiao again this time."

~~~~
On the sixth day of the second month in the first year of Taichang, it was the Waking of Insects.

Under Kang Yingqian's guidance, there are six rituals for marriage: offering the bride price, asking for the bride's name, offering the bride's good news, offering the bride price, asking for the date, and welcoming the bride in person.

Finally reached the last step.

It was past the hour of Xu, and the lights of Kaiyuan City were dim, bright as day. Ping Liaohou was wearing the crane robe of a second-rank commander, riding a tall horse, with flowers in his hair and a red robe.

Behind him followed a carriage with sixteen people and thirty-six drummers.

Ping Liaohou will marry Jin Yuji with the highest etiquette of the Ming Dynasty.

Note: (1) Bari is the name of an ancient Korean deity, known as the ancestor of Korean witches.

(End of this chapter)