The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 398: Emperor Wuding’s Gift

In early July, the land of Liaodong was steaming with heat and the weather was scorching. Affected by the Little Ice Age climate, the Liaohe Plain was exceptionally dry this year. June, which usually had abundant rainfall, had almost no rain. Even the Liaohe River runoff was significantly reduced. Large areas of mudflats were exposed above the water, with small fish and shrimps that had dried up and turned into mud lying on them.

Thanks to Emperor Wu Ding's substantial investment in garrison agriculture during his stay in Liaodong, water conservancy projects along the Liao River were well-developed, with a wide range of irrigation equipment readily available. In particular, in the third year of the Taichang reign, Xu Guangqi and Ginnige invented and popularized the "Dragon Tail Cart." This powerful device, used to draw river water for irrigation, was ten times more efficient than the previously used "dragon-bone carts." It's said that this irrigation device employed the principle of Archimedean screw motion, using the internal shaft's rotation to drive the spiral blades in the opposite direction, lifting water upward and achieving a higher level of water.

In addition, Emperor Wuding invested heavily in the construction and maintenance of farmland ditches. During his six years in Liaodong, Liu Zhaosun invested more than 100,000 taels of silver every year in farmland water conservancy tools and seeds.

Thanks to substantial investment, a relatively stable farming environment, scientific and rational fertilization and irrigation, the continued introduction of high-yield crops (upland rice, sweet potatoes, lodging-resistant corn, alfalfa), and, of course, an efficient and honest civil service system, the annual grain production of the Liaodong garrisons from the 1619th year of the Wanli reign to the first year of the Wuding reign (1626-) was sufficient to support the garrisons, and most of it was transported to granaries for storage.
In the first year of Wuding, the spring wheat growing on the Liaohe Plain was not affected by the bad climate. Instead, it grew even better due to the abundant sunlight.

In early May, after Qiao Yiqi, Xu Guangqi, and others fled back to Liaodong, Xu Guangqi advised Xie Yang to immediately begin transporting food to the major cities of Shenyang and Liaoyang as a precaution. Although Xie Guangkun wasn't a military commander and didn't understand the art of marching and fighting, he had witnessed the emperor trapped in the capital by hundreds of thousands of bandits. Even a fool could see that the Great Qi's retreat to Liaodong was inevitable. Therefore, without even petitioning the emperor—and there was no way to do so at the time—this civil official ordered the civil officials and garrison commanders of the various garrisons to begin transporting food, reserving only twenty days' worth of rations for the garrisons and sending all the rest to the major cities of Liaoshen.

In this way, by the end of May, all the food in the cities and garrisons in Liaodong had been moved away one after another, and even the people and merchants began to evacuate in batches - the vast majority of Liao people and merchants voluntarily went to Shenyang, and only a small number were reluctant to leave their property and land and were willing to stay and wait for death.

Since the Da Qi troops stationed in various places have been keeping idle, some cities even have a tendency to gradually increase their troops - in order to confuse Jianzhou Korea, Qi Jin sent reinforcements to Fushun near Hetuala and Kuandian near Korea respectively - Jianzhou Korea did not dare to act rashly for the time being. In particular, in the view of Du Du, the whereabouts of the Qi army were quite suspicious. After all, the behavior of not looting the people and escaping, but letting the merchants and civilians withdraw first, was not something that the Qing Emperor could understand about people like Du Du.

Before this, around March, the Qi Chamber of Commerce in Shandong, southern Liaoning and other places had already smelled the danger outside the battlefield. After realizing that the Qi army might withdraw to the outside of the Great Wall, these Kaiyuan merchants did not hesitate to spend several times the price to purchase contraband goods such as grain, gunpowder, cotton, etc. from all over Nanzhi. Although the Southern Ming court repeatedly issued orders strictly prohibiting the smuggling of grain to Qi, driven by interests, many merchants eager to get rich still took risks and smuggled shiploads of grain, gunpowder, saltpeter, cotton and other materials to southern Liaoning.

In March and April of the first year of the Hongguang reign, the Southern Ming court was still busy debating whether to "ally with the bandits to suppress the enemy" or "annihilate the bandits." Furthermore, the Kaiyuan Chamber of Commerce had long been colluding with officials and merchants in Southern Zhili, making all prohibitions effectively useless. The interests of both sides were so intertwined that Qi merchant ships were smuggling food and supplies practically under the noses of the Ming army, with no one inspecting them. By the time Liu Zongzhou, the commander-in-chief stationed in Yangzhou, heard about this and sent troops to seize the Qi smuggling ships, Xie Yang's men had already purchased at least 100,000 dan of grain and tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder and shipped them back to southern Liaoning...
In this way, on the eve of the Liaoshen Campaign, the Kaiyuan Civil Affairs Department had launched more intense battles with the enemy on various battlefields and won victories. By early July, cities such as Shenyang, Liaoyang, Tieling, etc. had stockpiled food, gunpowder and other military supplies, piling up like mountains. The people in various cities in Liaodong had basically withdrawn to the Liaohe Plain, and many people immediately joined the auxiliary troops to help dig trenches and build fortifications.

There was no need for the instructor to mobilize them, because everyone knew very well that if they lost this battle, most of them would die, and those who survived would be captured by the slave chiefs and made into bondservants - the bondservants of this era were in a very different situation from those of Cao Xueqin or Jin Yong's ancestors, and were basically cannon fodder - their wives, children and the elderly would also be bondservants for generations to come, and they would return to a life worse than that of cattle and horses.

While the Qi army was preparing for battle, Du Du, who was suspicious by nature, had not made up his mind (it was this caution that kept him alive until now).

Only after the last settlers in Fushun and Kuandian had harvested their spring wheat and corn did the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors finally realize something was amiss. They ordered Dorgon, Oboi, and their men to set fire to the settlements throughout Liaodong, burning the crops cultivated in the Kaiyuan garrisons and plundering merchants along the way, in an effort to minimize the Great Qi's war potential. However, it was too late. The ferocious Oboi was astonished to discover that before the Eight Banners warriors could act, Liu Zhaosun's disciples had already taken the lead, burning and smashing everything that could be burned in Fushun, Kuandian, and other cities, leaving not a single grain of rice, a pound of gunpowder, or a single arrowhead for the Qing.

Not only that, the cunning and vicious Suoyi Guards also poisoned water wells everywhere, and even the few grasslands were poisoned by them. On the main roads where people and horses in the city passed, there would be a deadly landmine or a trap full of sharp stakes and bamboo sticks from time to time.

In short, before the Liaoshen Campaign began, the leader of the Suoyi Guard, Liu Xingzuo, had already arranged various checkpoints and surprises, waiting for the Eight Banners warriors to conquer and experience them.

Emperor Wu Ding had long established operations throughout Liaodong, and his espionage network was formidable. After the Kaiyuan Rebellion, Shen Lian, Zhang Dong (both killed in action), and Liu Xingzuo led the Suoyi Guard in tireless counterintelligence operations throughout the region. As a result, Du Du's spies planted in various cities were eliminated by the Suoyi Guard every two months at most. Fortunately, the Qing Dynasty (formerly known as Jianzhou) had no shortage of bondservants, so these spies, like leeks in winter, grew back after being harvested, and then were harvested again.

In the end, the two sides reached a tacit understanding. Du Du would voluntarily send those prisoners (political enemies) who had committed capital crimes but were not convenient for him to kill them to the territory of Suoyiwei. Du Du would be responsible for delivering the heads, and Suoyiwei would be responsible for killing them, and each would get what they needed.

In short, this decisive battle that determined the survival of the Great Qi Dynasty during Liu Kan's reign in the first year of Wuding was completely different from his father Liu Zhaosun's bloody battle of Hunhe and the subsequent Battle of Hetuala.

The Qi army is no longer in the state of being completely blind and fighting to the death with the enemy.

As the saying goes, food and supplies must be sent ahead before the army moves.

As the saying goes, knowing yourself and your enemy ensures victory in a hundred battles.

Qi Jinkang and Ying Qian, one is a professional military officer and the other is a professional civil servant. They have experienced many bloody battles, are decisive and ruthless. Such a combination should be more efficient in killing people than Emperor Wu Ding.

(End of this chapter)