The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 407 Wu Sangui's Conditions for Going North
The next day, the Northern Expedition Army launched an attack on Linqing Prefecture City. The defenders had been prepared and the city was tightly guarded. The militiamen climbed up the city walls and threw rolling logs and stones. The soldiers charged with long spears under the dense rain of arrows. Zuo Liangyu ordered the Ming army to attack the city like ants, but both close combats were repelled by the defenders.

After a disastrous initial battle, the Northern Expeditionary Army retreated to Zhengjiakou Town. The Southern Zhili soldiers, accustomed to bullying the weak and fearing the strong, were all dejected, completely devoid of the pleasure they had felt in looting the previous day.

Ma Hongqi's battle in the west was not going well either. The Henan warlords lost over a thousand soldiers and horses, and in the end they did not gain any ground.

Across the moat, the bustling and prosperous Linqing City had nothing to do with him. How could Ma Hongqi, who had made his fortune as a salt field owner, not be angry?
Having initially assumed Linqing would be easy to capture, they unexpectedly faced such a formidable obstacle. Without even notifying their comrades, the Henan soldiers, just as they had come, departed without saying goodbye, looting their way back through western Shandong to continue their reign as local tyrants. This marked the beginning of Ma Hongqi's feud with the Great Qi, foreshadowing the tyrant's tragic fate.

~~~~
Liu Zongzhou sat upright in the big tent.

Zuo Liangyu, who suffered a defeat in the first battle, entered the tent with his personal soldiers. Liu Zongzhou glanced at him and saw that he was sweating and furious, and he knew that the battle was not going well.

"Damn Liaodong soldiers! When did they recruit civilians to defend the city? They've lost so many men and horses, and even dozens of servants. It's truly despicable. Once we capture Linqing, we'll skin them all alive."

Liu Zongzhou looked up at him and said calmly:
"It's just a state, I'll just die of confinement."

What Liu Zongzhou said was not without reason. The North-South Canal was completely cut off. Linqing, as the hub of the North Canal, had greatly reduced its role. After some time, the food and supplies stored in the city would be exhausted, and this isolated army would be doomed to destruction.

Liu Zongzhou knew the truth, but Zuo Liangyu did not understand it.

The Nanzhili troops he led were the strongest among all the armies. His soldiers and generals followed General Zuo from Huaiyang Fengpei to Linqing, not to besiege the city.

Many people's weapons and armor were purchased with their own savings. After making such a great effort to come here, how could they do it without money?
Besides, the little silver issued by the court had already been divided up by the superiors. Only by conquering Linqing City could they make a fortune and survive.

"General Liu is right, but the soldiers can't wait any longer. We must capture the city as soon as possible! Use the food, fodder, gold and silver in the city to reward the army..."

Zuo Liangyu shouted loudly that he had heard that Liu Zongzhou was not interested in Linqing and what the old man really wanted was the capital.

Commander Liu was going to the Forbidden City, which had been bombed into ruins, to bury the deceased Emperor Tianqi, and of course, Empress Zhou, who had committed suicide by slashing her throat in order to resist the enemy.

"I have come here to ask for your command. Tomorrow we will attack the city, and have the standard bearers also join us. Supervisor Shi will lead the troops to attack from the south, Ma Qihong will attack from the west, and I will attack from the east. If we surround three sides and leave one open, we will surely capture the city in one fell swoop."

"Ma Qihong has already escaped."

Liu Zongzhou said lightly.

The standard-bearing battalion under his command had 3,000 men and was the imperial guard of Emperor Hongguang.

This Northern Expedition was supposed to be led by Zhu Changling himself, but the court advised the emperor to lead the army in person to Jiangbei to wipe out the remaining Qi troops in one fell swoop.

However, Emperor Hongguang was frightened by the Kaiyuan army, and seemed to be possessed by Wanyan Gou, and had already developed male diseases.

The Ministry of War had finally put together this Imperial Guard (mainly young people and refugees), but at the last moment the emperor did not dare to mount his horse (literally ride a horse), so the Imperial Guard became the standard battalion of General Liu.

In any case, this army was the direct army of Emperor Hongguang. In addition to the support of the civil officials in Jiangnan, the emperor was able to ascend the throne smoothly thanks to these more than 3,000 people.

Liu Zongzhou certainly knew the reason, so when he heard Zuo Liangyu say that he wanted his standard battalion to attack the city, he immediately refused.

"The standard bearer is only there to supervise the battle. General Zuo, I still say the same thing. Linqing is only a state. The canal is cut off. The defenders are just struggling to survive. A long siege is enough. For now, we must recover the capital. If General Zuo insists on attacking and doesn't care about the lives of his soldiers, then please go ahead and fight on your own."

Zuo Liangyu's face changed slightly. He wanted to draw his sword several times, but finally he held back.

He stood up with a wave of his sleeves, pushed away Shi Kefa who was standing next to him, and under the angry stares of Li Sheng, Li Jingcai, Yan Ermei and others, he lifted the door curtain and walked away, cursing as he walked out of the tent.

Li Sheng pressed his fingers on the scabbard, turned around and said to Liu Zongzhou:
"General! Zuo Quezi is truly abominable and so rampant. I will kill him right now!"

Li Sheng is a famous sharpshooter in Nanzhili. He is only 20 years old this year, but he passed the military examination at such a young age. Looking at his strong arms, thick waist, and attractive abdominal muscles, you can tell that the title of military examination is genuine and not something he bought with money like Qiao Dazui.

Shi Kefa said angrily:

"They robbed the people along the way, burned, killed, and looted. They are so arrogant. Is there still law in the Ming Dynasty?"

The Ming Dynasty had lost its law.

From the middle and late Wanli period, local military leaders became increasingly uncontrolled.

During the time when Li Tingji, the temple lord, was serving as the Prime Minister, a Jiangsu military officer built a dam on the Wusong River and occupied the river to raise fish for personal gain, which eventually caused difficulties for the people to get water. When Li Tingji learned about this, he actually paid out of his own pocket to compensate the officer for his losses, and finally persuaded him to dig up the dam...
"I thought Linqing City could be taken overnight, but I didn't expect it to be so strong. Since it's a strong city, just abandon it. Zuo Liangyu wants to fight, so let him stay and continue fighting. I must go to the capital as soon as possible to bury the late emperor and the empress, and comfort the late emperor's spirit in heaven..."

Several staff members and guards were silent. Everyone knew that the capital had been reduced to a wasteland, and there was not a single soul within a hundred miles.

I heard that only tigers, leopards and wolves escaped from the depths of Yanshan Mountain and ate the corpses exposed in the wild without anyone to collect them.

It may not be easy to convince the soldiers of the Standard Battalion to go to such a wild place.

Li Jingcai hesitated for a while and said to Liu Zongzhou:
"Commander-in-Chief, the situation in Northern Zhili is even worse than we imagined. If we can't capture Linqing, not to mention Zuo Liangyu, I'm afraid even the Standard Battalion will..."

"You want to mutiny too?"

Liu Zongzhou laughed bitterly. In April, the Hongguang court planned the Northern Expedition and had finally managed to raise 2.3 million taels of silver for military pay. After distributing profits to several cabinet ministers, 1 million taels remained. After leaving the capital, 600,000 taels were left. In the end, only 2 taels of silver were distributed to each of the 50,000 soldiers, not even enough for round-trip travel expenses. No wonder these soldiers kept looting along the way.

To make soldiers fight for their lives, they must be paid with silver, a lot of silver. Commander Liu certainly understood these principles, but he also had his own unspeakable reasons.

According to the old system of ancestors, only after the burial of the previous emperor and empress, the Hongguang Emperor he supported could be truly securely seated on the throne, and the legitimacy of the Hongguang court - even if it was only superficial - could be recognized by the world.

However, looking at the current offensive and defensive situation in Linqing, even someone like Liu Zongzhou could see that the Northern Expedition Army would find it difficult to break through in a short time.

However, the late emperor's funeral cannot be delayed any longer, and the restoration of the capital must be completed as soon as possible.

Just when Commander Liu was at a loss, he heard the shouts of guards outside the tent, saying that the Liaoxi general had arrived.

They looked at each other, and after a while they realized that the person coming was Wu Sangui, the eldest son of Wu Xiang.

This son had just inherited his father's official title and was appointed as the commander-in-chief of Liaoxi by Emperor Hongguang - although Shanhaiguan was not in their hands at all.

Commander Liu thought for a moment, and his frown relaxed slightly.

"Please come in, General Wu."

A moment later, guard Li Sheng led a handsome and tall young general into the tent.

As soon as Wu Sangui, who was fully armored and looked majestic, walked in, he attracted everyone's attention. Shi Kefa, Li Jingcai and others looked at him, all attracted by the unique temperament emanating from this handsome young man.

"General Wu Sangui pays homage to the Commander-in-Chief!"

Liu Zongzhou quickly stepped forward and helped Wu Sangui up. He carefully looked at the sixteen-year-old young general in front of him and said in amazement:

"Okay, okay, Lianghuan (Wu Xiang's name) entrusted you to me. In the blink of an eye, you've grown into an adult!"

Before and after Emperor Wu Ding suppressed Zhang Chun's rebellion, Wu Xiang, the deputy general of Liaoxi who was living in his hometown of Gaoyou, saw that defeat was inevitable and knew that Liu Zhaosun would never forgive him. He was filled with worry and anger, and finally died in the Gaoyou post station.

After Wu Xiang's death, more than a thousand soldiers and servants who followed him from Liaoxi to the interior of the country supported the young master Wu Sangui as general and continued to occupy Gaoyou. After breaking away from the Wu family, these Liaoxi soldiers could only follow Li Xianzhong and become refugees.

Wu Sangui just turned sixteen this year. Although he is still a teenager, he is already the bravest among the three armies and is a hundred times better than his father Wu Xiang in fighting.

In the first year of the Tianqi reign, bandits invaded the east. Liu Fangliang passed Tongguan and entered Henan, advancing eastward. A part of the vanguard even approached Yangzhou. The southern Zhili was greatly frightened. Wu Sangui personally led 1,500 Liao soldiers in Fengcheng to defeat the bandits, stopping them at the canal and preventing them from getting involved in the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, thus maintaining peace in the area.

After this battle, Wu Sangui's position in the Hongguang court was further consolidated, and he became a full-fledged general of the Ming Dynasty.

However, his jurisdiction was set in western Liaoning, and he said that after the Northern Expedition was successful, western Liaoning would be awarded to the Wu family.

In this Northern Expedition, Wu Sangui led more than 3,000 soldiers from Liaoxi and Nanzhi. Compared with Zuo Liangyu, General Wu had strict military discipline. These soldiers from Liaoxi only robbed food and money and never killed people indiscriminately.

"I have heard of Commander Liu's current situation,"

Under the gaze of everyone, there was no change in expression on Wu Sangui's slightly immature face.

"I am willing to lead my Liao soldiers to escort the Marshal north to recapture the capital..."

Liu Zongzhou was overjoyed. He had long seen that this young man was extraordinary and would definitely be a man of great potential in the future.

At the critical moment, this boy was so loyal to the emperor and patriotic. There are very few military generals like him in the Ming Dynasty.

"When your father was alive, he often told me that while you can go against your conscience in business, you must be worthy of His Majesty and the people of the world when leading troops in battle."

Liu Zongzhou was so excited that he spoke incoherently:

"So, what about food and military pay?"

"I will handle it myself and will not embarrass the commander."

"Good! There is indeed someone who can do something. My Ming Dynasty is saved."

Wu Sangui interrupted Liu Zongzhou, looked around at everyone in the tent, and his eyes fell on Shi Kefa.

"However, I have one condition,"

Liu Zongzhou was slightly stunned and said quickly:
"But you can tell me anything. I will definitely help you if I can."

Wu Sangui's eyes were slightly red, and he said murderously:

"The hateful thief Liu has been slain by Heaven, shattered to pieces! However, I have heard that his wife Zhang Yan and that damned Shen Lian are buried in the imperial mausoleum. I will blow up the mausoleum, dig out the thief's corpse, and grind his bones to dust! This will avenge the deep blood feud between my Wu and Zu families!"

(End of this chapter)