The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 161 Willing to be an Adopted Son
On the first day of April in the first year of Taichang, Marquis Ping Liao left a thousand soldiers to garrison Hanyang and personally led the remaining troops back to the Yalu River.

On the 18th, the army arrived in Kuandian, rested in Kuandian for two days, and returned to Kaiyuan on the 22nd.

From then on, the trip to Korea in the first year of Taichang came to an end. This trip yielded a lot of gains:
The goals of expanding trade, mining, and leasing islands were largely achieved, and the Liaodong Navy gradually took shape. The only drawback was that the previously planned assassination of Gwanghaegun failed to materialize, and the newly appointed King of Joseon, Yi Jong, seemed even more formidable than Gwanghaegun.

The dream of boating on the Han River with Jin Yuji, "cups and plates in a mess, lying on the bed together in the boat, not knowing that the east was already bright" was not realized in the end.

~~~~
"Madam, since I have accompanied you back to the Han River in Korea, you must also follow me to the Han River in Ming Dynasty and visit my hometown, Junzhou."

"Junzhou?"

Jin Yuji looked confused, it seemed that she had never heard of this place before.

"It's in Xiangyang Prefecture, bordering Henan and Shaanxi, and very close to Chongqing, where four provinces meet."

"Oh, no wonder my husband knows so many dialects." Jin Yuji suddenly realized. "When does my husband want to go back?"

"Well, I don't know." Liu Zhaosun hesitated. Perhaps the next time he entered the pass, he would have to go into battle with the imperial court.

"If all goes well, on the 15th day of August next year, my wife and I will travel south to Huguang, return to Junzhou City, climb Mount Taihe (Wudang Mountain), visit the 72 Taoist temples, and then go boating on the Han River until we're drunk."

Jin Yuji heard this and laughed out loud:

"Great! Great! I've always heard you talk about the True Martial God on Mount Wudang. I've always wanted to meet him. It would be best if he were to be seen with a river full of stars, a mess of cups and plates, and a sleeping god in a boat."

"Like our wedding night?"

Jin Yuji blushed and pushed Liu Zhaosun away.

~~~~~
There was no conversation along the way. On April 22, Ping Liaohou returned to Kaiyuan.

The Khorchin cavalry, who were cruising around Qinghe looking for opportunities, heard that the main force of the Kaiyuan army had returned and immediately fled westward.

These Khorchin people had witnessed the strength of the Kaiyuan Army on the Hunhe battlefield, and no one was willing to fight to the death with this army.

Ping Liaohou ordered Burhanggu to lead the cavalry in pursuit. Burhanggu was full of high spirits, but unfortunately he failed to catch up with the Mongolian army and only killed a dozen cavalrymen.

Xicheng Beile hated the Khorchin people to the core. Last year, when he and his uncle were desperate, they were stabbed in the back by the Khorchin people, leaving them in a state of panic. Now, the situation has changed, and this year it is his turn to hunt down the Khorchin people.

During the time that Ping Liaohou was in Korea, various undertakings in Kaiyuan continued to move forward.

Recruiting new soldiers, expanding military farms, developing new weapons in workshops, expanding schools, and building surrounding infrastructure... The appearance of Tieling Kaiyuan and the surrounding military forts is changing every day.

Refugees came from all directions to seek refuge. In addition to the Liao people, there were also refugees from Shandong and northern Zhili who heard the news and rushed to seek refuge.

Every day, more than a dozen groups of refugees arrived in Kaiyuan, asking to join Kaiyuan. These people brought their families with them, and some even came with their entire village to seek refuge.

As per convention, Zhang Dong, Pei Dahu and others carefully screened each refugee, reorganized those refugees who gathered in groups, and assigned them to various garrisons.

The recruitment of new soldiers was particularly strict. Qi Jin eliminated all unqualified people according to the standards of the Qi Family Army. After screening, less than 10% of the refugees were able to stay and join the Kaiyuan Army.

Some of those who are eliminated will be added as fresh blood to departments such as the Civil Affairs Education Workshop.

The workshop already had enough manpower to drill gun barrels, but more people kept coming in every day. Craftsman Lei wanted to save some food and wages for Marquis Ping Liao, so he was ready to stop recruiting craftsmen. When Liu Zhaosun heard about it, he personally went to warn Craftsman Lei that the more craftsmen the better, as the Kaiyuan Army would have to expand by at least 5,000 people this year, and the production of firearms and armor could not lag behind the expansion of the army.

"Keep the extra people and send them to Song Yingxing to install the Divine Fire Flying Crow. Don't chase them away!"

Master Lei was silent for a long time, and finally mustered up the courage to ask, "General Liu, do we have that much food?"

Lei Jiangtou was worried because he heard that there was not much food left from the Jiannu that was seized last time.

Liu Zhaosun frowned and asked, "Who told you we don't have enough food?"

"Yes, it's General Qiao..."

~~~~
The stabilizer designed by Song Yingxing was finally installed on the tail of the Divine Fire Crow. The improved rocket had a range of four miles and a greatly improved accuracy. After repeated testing, the Divine Fire Crow could accurately hit the enemy's main formation from two miles away, with a hit rate exceeding 70%.

Having solved the accuracy issue, Song Yingxing led his craftsmen to continue improving the arrowhead gunpowder. They tried various gunpowder formulas, including the use of tree lacquer. However, the results were unsatisfactory, and the power of the arrowhead remained unchanged.

Liu Zhaosun knew nothing about gunpowder.

He only knew that high explosives were several times more powerful than ordinary gunpowder.

However, he had already returned the formula for explosives to his high school chemistry teacher.

Unable to remember the recipe, Song Yingxing and the others could only keep trying again and again.

Civil affairs were divided into three areas: military farming, the Chamber of Commerce, and education. The Kaiyuan Chamber of Commerce continued to expand its influence into the interior of China. Xie Yang led civil affairs officials on daily visits, engaging in conversations with merchants from across Shandong. Their efforts eventually persuaded a Hangzhou silk trading house to trade with Kaiyuan, bypassing the capital and the canal in favor of direct maritime trade.

I have to say, this is quite bold. Of course, Liu Zhaosun was even more bold. He offered Ningbo merchants twice the price of silk as the merchants in the capital...

Kang Yingqian thought that General Liu was a fool with a lot of money. Liu Zhaosun explained that he wanted to buy bones for a huge sum of gold to attract merchants. The two quarreled and parted unhappily.

The amount of farmland under Kaiyuan's name had increased dramatically, from 50,000 to 60,000 mu before the bloody battle of Hunhe to 1.2 million mu today. This rate of growth had astonished Ping Liaohou.

These 1.2 million mu of land all had written deeds in black and white. Some of these deeds were temporarily printed by Qiao Yiqi and Yuan Chonghuan, and the scent of ink still lingered on the paper. Of course, now all of this has belonged to Kaiyuan since ancient times.

The 3,000 Zhejiang soldiers under Qi Jin have completed their training, and Qin Jianxun's white-pole soldiers are also about to be trained. In this way, the various units of the Kaiyuan Army have finally returned to the size before the bloody battle of Hunhe, reaching 8,000 people. Many of the veterans who survived the bloody battle of Hunhe have become grassroots officers such as flag captains and generals. The bloodiness and traditions of the Kaiyuan Army will be passed on to various armies by these veterans.

~~~
On the sixth day of May, Marquis Ping Liao went to the North Gate Parade Ground to inspect the new recruits.

At three quarters past noon, two thousand five hundred white-pole soldiers, holding white-pole spears, had already stood in the training ground.

After more than four months of training, they now have an upright military posture and coordinated movements. Each of them holds the gun handle with his left hand and the gun body with his right hand, relying on the strength of his waist to thrust forward.

"kill!"

"kill!"

Ping Liaohou looked at the newly trained soldiers and nodded with satisfaction. He turned to Qin Jianxun and encouraged him, saying that his method of training the army was no worse than Qi Jin's.

Most of the new recruits were Liao people. It was hard to imagine that four months ago, these well-dressed soldiers were emaciated and staggering refugees. In just four months, Qin Jianxun had transformed these refugees into a strong army. It seemed that this young general from Shizhu had some skills.

"Well, you are indeed a strong army. Once you go to the battlefield and gain some experience, you will become a strong army! Jianxun, you did a great job. You trained this team in just three months! It's really not easy!"

Ping Liaohou patted Qin Jianxun on the shoulder and praised the young general highly.

In the 47th year of Wanli's reign, Liu Zhaosun met Qin Jianxun for the first time in Kuandian. From then on, he had high expectations for this white-pole soldier general. Later, facts proved that Qin Jianxun was a capable general.

After a year of bloody fighting and experiencing various life and death separations, the boy's childishness has long disappeared, and he has gained a calm and steady temperament.

"Qin Jianxun, chaos is about to break out in the southwest. Instead of waiting for the chieftains to rebel, why don't we prepare first?"

Having said that, Ping Liaohou looked up at the white-pole soldiers who were training in the parade ground.

"I'm going to send you back to Sichuan, bringing the intelligence bureau with you to find out everything about She Chongming and report back to me as soon as possible. That way, if the imperial court orders Kaiyuan to move south, we won't be caught completely in the dark."

Qin Jianxun listened carefully. When Liu Zhaosun finished speaking, he patted his chest and said solemnly, "Don't worry, Marquis Ping Liao. Unless I die, I will never let She Chongming succeed!"

Ping Liaohou waved his hand to interrupt him, patted Qin Jianxun on the shoulder, and said to him, "Don't worry, no one else will die, and you won't die! When we pacify the southwest, your Qin family will be credited with the first achievement!"

On the eighth day of May, Qin Jianxun and four members of the Intelligence Bureau left Kaiyuan and headed south secretly.

~~~~
Ping Liaohou calculated that with the addition of the 2,500 white-pole soldiers in front of him, the number of Kaiyuan soldiers would exceed 8,000, which had already surpassed the strength during the bloody battle of Hunhe last year.

As long as there is enough money and food and everything is on the right track, the speed of military expansion will only get faster and faster.

At the current rate of military expansion, the number of combat troops will surge to 15,000 by the end of this year, and will exceed 20,000 by the beginning of next spring. By the end of next year, the Kaiyuan Army will be able to march south, sweeping across western Liaoning, completely annihilating the Zujia army and occupying eastern and western Liaoning. The year after next, when the force reaches 40,000, they will be capable of annexing Korea or even raiding the border—though rebellion is not yet an option.

Of course, the above deductions of Kaiyuan's military growth are only ideal conditions, and are based on the following premise: the court pays enough Liao money, and Huang Taiji, Korchin and other enemies have stopped their activities, turned a blind eye to the ever-expanding Kaiyuan army, and taken no action.

Liu Zhaosun became more and more convinced that his enemies had completely given up and no longer posed a threat to him.

In mid-March, Huang Taiji had sent a congratulatory gift: two crates of premium eastern pearls, two cartloads of sable fur and Korean ginseng, and two beautiful women from Jianzhou (later returned by Yang Qing'er). In his own letter, Huang Taiji congratulated Ping Liaohou on his wedding with an extremely humble attitude. In his message, he compared Ping Liaohou to a pillar of the Ming Dynasty, even surpassing Li Chengliang. Finally, the one-eyed Jianzhou leader tactfully expressed his wish to emulate his old slave and become Ping Liaohou's adopted son. He simply requested that Kaiyuan lend Jianzhou a temporary loan of 1,000 dan of grain and fodder to help the elderly, women, and children of Hetuala survive the famine of spring.

Liu Zhaosun had Kang Yingqian read the congratulatory message word for word, then smirked, "The legendary Son of the Planes, Huang Taiji, is no better than this. Wasn't he completely defeated by me? Hahaha!"

Kang Yingqian said proudly, "I heard that Huang Taiji is over 30 years old this year. At this age, how can he be the adopted son of Ping Liaohou? Ping Liaohou has besieged Jianzhou on all sides, and Hetuala's grain is selling for eight taels per stone. The Jiannu are clearly at the end of their rope now, trapped both internally and externally... Well, why not let me inconvenience you? I'm in need of an adopted son, hahahaha!"

~~~~~
Now that he no longer had to worry about Huang Taiji, Ping Liaohou's attention began to turn to the southwest in June.

According to the original historical development, the southwestern chieftains headed by She Chongming would soon rebel.

The army is a money-eating beast. In the six months after the Battle of Hunhe, the 1.5 million silver taels that were accumulated with great difficulty were reduced to 500,000 taels, and the grain reserves were almost exhausted. It wouldn't be long before Xie Guangkun and Kang Yingqian would come to him to cry poor again.

For Liu Zhaosun, suppressing the rebellion in the southwest might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make money, or perhaps, it would be a huge pitfall.

It depends on whether you can seize the opportunity and reap the benefits of the counterinsurgency war.

(End of this chapter)