The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 28 White-Pole Soldiers

Qin Jianxun had just turned sixteen. He rode a white horse, wore a white robe, and held a seven-foot-long white spear in his hand.

Not long after, the young man in white robe would die in Hunhe River, and three thousand white-pole soldiers would die in the battle with him.

After the Battle of Sarhu, the White Spear Soldiers were transferred to Liaodong and were gradually exhausted in the game between the various parties in the court and Liaozhen.

The bottomless pit of Liaodong not only consumes millions of taels of silver from the people every year, but also the strong troops that come from all over the country.

The Eastern Army marched side by side with the Sichuan troops.

In the past few days, the defeated soldiers have been gathered one after another, and the team is getting bigger and bigger.

Except for the thousands of Koreans who did not speak the language and always liked to run around, the remaining troops were all under the jurisdiction of Liu Zhaosun.

Captain Liu Qian has become General Liu.

The soldiers on both sides looked at each other and carefully observed the opposing army.

The white-pole soldiers wore green linen shoes, rattan helmets, two layers of iron armor on their bodies, and a chieftain's jacket on the outside.

Each of them held a long spear and a round shield, with a short crossbow hanging from their waist. The arrow holder was filled with half-foot long arrows. Judging from the shape of the arrowheads, they should be poisoned arrows.

What he saw overturned Liu Zhaosun's understanding of this southwestern chieftain army.

The equipment is so sophisticated, and there are also long-range attack weapons such as crossbows.

No wonder they were able to repel the attack of the Later Jin army and kill nearly 3,000 Jiannu soldiers in the bloody battle of Hunhe River.

Liu Zhaosun stared at the big ring at the end of the white spear in a daze. He thought about it for a long time but could not figure out the secret of the ring.

Apart from increasing the weight of the gun, I really don't know what other use the big iron ring has.

It is said that it can facilitate soldiers to climb cliffs.

When necessary, you can also hold the spear upside down, swing it up to hit the enemy shield and break through the enemy formation.

However, this was just hearsay, and Liu Zhaosun had never seen the White Spear Soldiers in actual combat.

The Shizhu chieftain monopolized the brine iron mines, making huge profits and becoming the richest man in the world. His wealth was comparable to that of Yang Yinglong in Guizhou.

Therefore, the White Spear Soldiers were better equipped than the average Ming army.

In comparison, the ragtag army led by Liu Zhaosun looked much more shabby.

The soldiers belonged to different military camps, and they wore armor of different styles and carried a wide variety of weapons.

The goose-feather swords, Miao swords, spears and clubs were dazzling to look at.

Liu Zhaosun summoned the captains of each camp and repeatedly gave orders to the roughnecks.

He asked everyone to maintain good relations with the Sichuan soldiers and not allow the soldiers to cause trouble without reason.

After a brief greeting, the relationship between Liu Zhaosun and Qin Jianxun quickly warmed up and they began to call each other brothers.

Qin Jianxun was somewhat disappointed when he learned that the bandits had retreated.

He led the White Spear Soldiers to rush across the night to reinforce Kuandian. He suffered a lot on the way and didn't expect that it would be a wasted trip in the end.

This group of white-pole soldiers came from Chengdu, determined to fight the Jiannu.

Qin Jianxun was a young and fearless man who wanted to make great achievements on the battlefield with his sword and gun, just like his fathers.

"Brother, don't be discouraged. The Jiannu will come again soon, and there will be a lot of them."

Qin Jianxun asked doubtfully:

"Brother Liu, are you saying that the Tartars are going to catch up with us?"

"Yes, they will then attack Shenyang and Liaoyang."

Qin Jianxun disagreed.

He had been in Shenyang for several days. The city walls were high and the moats were deep. There were nearly 10,000 foreign soldiers, and reinforcements were on the way.

With such strong defense, how dare the Jiannu attack?
He heard that Liu Zhaosun defeated the Bordered Blue Banner and pursued Amin for forty miles. The Ming army before him was disciplined and murderous.

After seeing the heads of the Jiannu people loaded on the carriage with my own eyes, I couldn't help but look at Brother Liu with admiration.

As a descendant of the Shizhu Xuanwei Envoy, he was loyal, filial, chaste, and righteous, taking his fathers as role models. In the 28th year of the Wanli reign, Yang Yinglong rebelled, and Qin Liangyu led the White Spear Army to defeat him and successively captured seven camps including Jinzhu Pass.

Qin assisted the Youyang government troops in capturing Sangmu Pass and defeated Yang Yinglong's army.

Qin Liangyu was the most meritorious soldier in Nanchuan Road, but she never reported her military achievements.

This is what is meant by "leaving without leaving any credit or fame behind" when the work is done.

The two armies continued to move south and traveled for two days without any incident.

On March 29th, the army finally arrived in Kuandian.

The news that the Eastern Army had repelled the Bordered Blue Banner had spread in Kuandian.

When Liu Zhaosun and Amin were fighting in the north, envoys from the Later Jin came to Kuandian to persuade them to surrender and informed them of the news of Dusong and Malin's defeat.

If Kuandian could surrender to the Jin Dynasty immediately like Fushun, the defending officials could be reinstated; otherwise, the army would massacre the city.

The Kuandian garrison officer was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, and asked Yang Hao for help every now and then.

Shenyang had already been in chaos. The governor and the censors were attacking each other, and the foreign soldiers and Liao soldiers were busy fighting. No one had time to care about Kuandian's life or death.

At this time, news of the defeat of the Bordered Blue Banner came from the north.

Kuandian, an important fortress close to the Yalu River, broke through the haze and finally welcomed spring.

The eastern army returned from Hunjiang, with their carriages piled with hundreds of human heads.

The Kuandian garrison commander recognized at a glance that this was the head of a real barbarian.

Beheading thousands of Jiannu soldiers was a great victory.

You must know that when Li Chengliang got more than a dozen heads of the Jiannu, he would send people to the capital to take credit and show off.

Kuandian Fort was crowded with Han people who had fled from all over the place.

Most Han people in Liaodong did not want to be baoyi aha.

Upon learning that the Bordered Blue Banner had been defeated, the military and civilians were excited.

While people were celebrating, they learned that the commander of the eastern Ming army, General Liu, had died in battle.

During his lifetime, Liu Wei defeated the Burmese bandits, Luoxiong, Korean Japanese, Bo chieftains, and Tuo in hundreds of battles, and his reputation was renowned throughout the country.

His name had already spread throughout the nine borders, and all the scholars in Kuandian were saddened, and some even wrote poems to mourn him.

The years are long after chasing east and west, and now I am on my way back in triumph with my horse resting on my back; the battles of Sanba and Longquan are far away, and in June the smoke of war is so thick that geese fly down.

I feel pity for my white hair at the frontier pass, who in the temple will share my loyalty? A good bow is useless when all the birds are gone, so I slowly prepare the fishing rod to fish in Haixun.

Half a month ago, the old and strong general set out from Kuandian, but he never expected that he would die on the battlefield when he returned!
In order to boost the morale of the people, Liu Zhaosun ordered that the 1,000 captured Jiannu heads be placed at the north gate of Kuandian for the people to see.

In a short while, the crowds of spectators were so huge that Commander Liu Qian had to send out his servants to maintain order.

The news of the Eastern Army's victory over the Jiannu spread throughout Liaodong, and tens of thousands of refugees came from all directions to join Liu Zhaosun.

Not everyone wanted to be a bondservant. Nurhaci was friendly to slaves, and even patient with them. However, he did not have that much patience for the Han people who did not want to be slaves but did not want to die.

Among the refugees who came for refuge, most of their families were massacred by the Later Jin Dynasty, and they had a blood feud with the Later Jin regime.

The Liao people were brave and many young and strong men were willing to follow General Liu Qian just to seek revenge, even bringing their own money and food.

Some of the elderly, weak, women and children who escaped were frozen to death or starved to death because they were too weak. The area around Kuandian was mixed with the living and the dead, like a ghost town.

General Liu Qian conducted three soul-calling activities in Kuandian. He climbed onto a high platform and prayed like the Nuo gods of Xiangxi, with a tragic and pious expression!
The legend of the bloody battle of Hunjiang River spread in various versions under the blessing of strong religious beliefs. Under the influence of mythological elements, the Liao people spread the story of Liu Qianzong to even further places...

Many years later, Liu Zhaosun had become a legend, comparable to a god, and was circulated among the White Mountains and Black Waters. Like Wong Tai Sin, he became a figure of reverence for the Liao people.

Those young and strong men who wanted to avenge their relatives brought their own money and food, joined Liu Zhaosun's army, and vowed to follow Liu Qianzong until death.

Kang Yingqian reminded Liu Zhaosun that it would be a serious crime to recruit soldiers privately without the quota.

Privately recruiting people is a serious crime and the person will lose his head. However, he has to wait until the imperial court sends people to Liaodong to kill him.

"The sky is high and the emperor is far away. Liaodong is about to change. With more people, we are not afraid of wind and rain!"

(End of this chapter)