The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 244: Attack Liao
"In August, attack Liao! Kill Zu Dashou! Destroy Liaoxi!"

"Han, Jurchen, Mongolian, and Korean people who bring their own weapons, bows, arrows, and armor to accompany the army will be exempted from rent for three years! Head to the nearest city wall and wait for selection!"

"In August, we will attack Liao! Kill..."

The deep, gurgling sound echoed throughout the Liaodong region. (Note 1)

A cavalryman with a small black dragon flag on his back waved a command flag and walked on the thin snow on the official road to convey the military order to conquer Liaoxi to various cities in Liaodong.

The Kaiyuan Cavalry Battalion maneuvered towards Fushun in advance to drive away the elite cavalry from western Liaoning who were constantly approaching eastward, so the transmission of combat orders was temporarily handed over to the Ye Bushou of the First Guards Army.

The cavalrymen waving the black dragon battle flag galloped across the vast land of Liaodong. In the countless villages and forts on both sides of the road, men of all ethnic groups moved at the sound. Amidst noise and cheers, thousands of foreigners and Han people walked out of the villages and forts, and led by the village chiefs, headed towards the nearest main city.

Looking down from mid-air, on the land of Liaodong, people from all over the country speaking different accents gathered together like gurgling streams along the way, and finally turned into a huge torrent rolling westward. Led by six flags of the Guards, hundreds of thousands of men rushed towards Fushun.

Fushun was the front line of the decisive battle between Kaiyuan and Liaoxi.

In Kaiyuan City, Deputy Battalion Commander Yang Tong and a team of young pacification soldiers were standing on the bustling North-South Street.

There was an endless stream of horse-drawn carriages on the spacious streets. Merchants speaking various languages stood by the roadside, repeatedly urging the drivers to deliver their goods to the destination on time. Some merchants even sent their servants to follow the carriages.

The bustling carriages often blocked the streets, causing quarrels among the people. At this time, Yang Tong called on the pacification soldiers to come forward to mediate and ease the traffic.

This Kaiyuan hero, who had recently fought a bloody battle at the Qixing Tower and annihilated the Dongchang thugs, became the captain of the Kaiyuan traffic police in just a few days, directing traffic with his men every day.

"Captain Yang, what are we doing here? We're neither catching thieves nor investigating traitors. We just stand here every day, like the clay Buddha in the City God Temple! We just gather dust."

A pacification soldier next to Yang Tong was complaining as a horse-drawn carriage roared past him. The ruts of the carriage rolled over the puddles on the road, splashing some muddy water onto the soldier's skirt. If Yang Tong had not been there, he would have cursed on the spot.

"Damn it! These Tartars are crazy! They're running to Fushun day and night, fighting even harder than I did back when I was fighting Hunhe! I wonder how much money our Ping Liaohou paid them!"

Yang Tong was too lazy to listen to the pacification soldier's constant complaints, and pointed at a carriage slowly approaching in the distance.

"Alright, stop talking. It looks like another car from the workshop is coming over there. Let's check their badges."

The pacification soldier agreed very reluctantly and turned away hesitantly.

After the pacification soldiers walked away, Yang Tong sighed deeply, stretched his legs and feet, and felt that all the bones in his body were about to fall apart. This pacification soldier officer had fought desperately with the enemy on the battlefield before, but he had never been so tired.

In order to ensure the army's adequate supply of grain and grass for the attack on Liao, the Industry and Commerce Bureau mobilized all merchants in Liaodong to transport grain to Fushun.

According to the financial and transportation capabilities of each merchant, officials assigned them different amounts of grain to transport. All merchants who completed the grain transportation would receive salt permits corresponding to the amount of grain transported. They could exchange the salt permits for table salt in Fushun and return to Liaodong to sell it.

The Industry and Commerce Bureau directly copied the Ming Dynasty's salt permit system and used it for the war in western Liaoning. The merchants' transportation capacity could effectively make up for the lack of civil transportation capacity.

While ensuring fairness and justice and eliminating corruption and behind-the-scenes manipulation, the salt-introduction system has achieved immediate results.

Kaiyuan has sufficient grain reserves, so food supply is not a problem.

The salt industry is one of the highly profitable industries in Liaodong. Fushun is close to southern Liaoning, and the price of salt there is half as much as Kaiyuan. When Sun Chuanting was in power, he stored a large amount of salt here, just waiting for the need for salt permits several years later.

Seeing that it was profitable, merchants all used their own horse-drawn carriages to transport grain. Merchants who did not have carriages rented them from carriage shops, and transported the food and fodder needed by the army to the front line in Fushun day and night.

Yang Tong looked at the wheels turning in front of him and recalled the famous saying of Sima Qian:

The world is bustling, all come for the benefit, and the world is bustling, all go for the benefit.

Officer Yang was still sighing when he suddenly heard a woman's high-pitched shouting and cursing on the street about ten steps behind him.

"I went over to check this morning, came back to check it at noon, and now I'm checking it again. Ping Liaohou said that the workshop's cars should only be checked once. The front line is waiting for these Divine Fire Flying Crows. I see you guys have nothing better to do than to make such a fuss. Why don't you just do your job? Get out of the way! If you delay the siege, I'll slap this sign in your face and see if you still want to check it out!"

Yang Tong couldn't help but shrink his neck. He was frightened. From the tone of her voice, he knew that he had met a female demon.

Sure enough, when I looked up, I saw the pacification soldier who had been complaining all the way standing in front of a carriage. A woman in the uniform of a workshop official stood with her hands on her hips and scolded the pacification soldier. From a distance, I could feel the woman's saliva splashing on the pacification soldier's face.

The pacification soldier stood there bewildered, glancing at the two workshop officials sitting in the carriage behind the woman. They were clearly lower in rank than the woman, and both glared at him. He knew he was no match for her, and judging by her argumentative aggression, he doubted even Instructor Mori would be able to defeat her.

"Our superiors...our superiors have ordered us to do so..."

"Shangguan said that? Which Shangguan? I want to see today if he can be more powerful than Lord Qiao and General Liu."

The pacification soldier involuntarily took two steps back, curling his little finger and timidly pointing behind him. The woman was probably also full of anger. She glanced at Yang Tong and then opened fire again.

"Merchant carriages, why don't you check? Why do you pick on our workshop? Even if the quarrel reaches the General's Mansion today, I still want to get an explanation and see who is..."

Yang Tong sucked in a breath of cold air. Compared with the Eight Banners of the Jiannu on the Hunhe battlefield, the Wenxiang Sect rebels in Dengzhou, and even the Later Jin soldiers behind the Hetuala position, the woman in front of him was undoubtedly more terrifying.

The woman refused to give in. Under the gaze of the men, she jumped off the armrest of the carriage without a care. Her leather boots clattered on the messy snow and mud on the road as she walked towards Yang Tong. Her powerful aura could be felt even from a distance.

"Are you the Shangguan he mentioned? Why do you keep checking..."

Yang Tong knew he couldn't dodge it, so he hid the hook in his sleeve and said with a stiff upper lip:
"I am also following the orders of Camp Officer Zhang. The strict investigation is to prevent the discovery of firearms left behind..."

As usual, Yang Tong spoke without any emotion, as calm as a stone man.

Suddenly, his mouth seemed to be stuck with tung oil, and the quiet voice stopped abruptly.

Looking at the domineering woman in front of him, Officer Yang's slightly immature cheeks turned red, as if they were burned by the divine fire crow after the explosion.

"you are?"

The woman was also stunned on the spot, and she stretched out her hand and scratched her cheek awkwardly, which was also burning hot.

"Yang Tong, you, why are you here?!"

"Aren't you in the Second Guards Army? I'm Liu Yue'er..."

The woman's voice suddenly became extremely gentle, and the surrounding pacification soldiers all opened their mouths wide, as if they were holding pieces of watermelon in their mouths.

"I'm wrong. I'm not."

Yang Tong avoided the burning gaze from the opposite side and turned to leave.

"I came to Kaiyuan last September and have been asking people to look for you in the Second Army, but the Second Army has been reorganized, and many of the new recruits don't know you."

The surroundings were filled with the noise of commotion from the pacification soldiers. The workshop officials sitting in the carriage also stretched their necks to look over here. When they saw their chief officer arguing with a pacification soldier, they both showed shocked expressions.

Yang Tong turned and left.

Liu Yue'er grabbed the icy iron hook with a look of surprise, and tears immediately burst out of her eyes.

"Yang Tong, do you remember what you said to me in Qufu?"

"do not remember."

"When we meet again, you must marry me."

~~~~~
Liu Zhaosun rode his horse through the gate of the general's mansion and bid farewell to his wife in tears.

Yang Qing'er stood on tiptoe under the stone lion in front of the general's mansion, waiting for Liu Zhaosun to return, like a beautiful stone waiting for her husband.

The guards held the general's flag and surrounded Liu Zhaosun as they walked through the bustling North-South Street. When the people of Kaiyuan saw Ping Liaohou, they immediately burst into cheers of victory.

Liu Zhaosun reined in his horse and walked slowly, waving to the cheering crowd.

Amid the passionate and powerful sound of drums, rows of soldiers armed with flintlock rifles and spears marched in neat steps through Kaiyuan Street. Fully armed cavalrymen reined in their horses and marched slowly on both sides, while auxiliary troops and Jianzhou prisoners followed at the end of the team, pushing field artillery.

People of all ethnic groups waved their military flags and shouted in unison on the roadside, while monks and Taoists held up soul-calling banners and prayed for the army.

In the crowd, Liu Zhaosun saw the black dragon flag of the First Army, the black tiger flag of the Second Army, the black unicorn flag of the Third Army... and even the black skull flag of the Navy.

Flags covered the sky and the whole city was in an uproar.

He was shocked by this enthusiastic scene, and the goose-feather knife in his hand could not help but tremble slightly:

To conquer the world and end the suffering of this land.

Note:
1. Hailao: A horn made of conch shell, originally used as a Taoist and Buddhist ritual instrument. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was often used to convey military orders, train soldiers, and command battles.

(End of this chapter)