The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 442 Yehe Song
"Did the emperor give Kuandian to the Koreans? He doesn't care about us anymore?"

Alessa had been dealing with Koreans for many years, and he noticed something unusual on the city wall at a glance. The armor and clothing of the defenders were similar to those of the Ming army. Alessa easily identified that these were Korean soldiers.

"There's only the Yalu River between the two sides, and the people speak the same language, so why are they killing each other? When Korea was hit by famine, Yuan Shikai even provided food relief."

Jiang Liuer muttered to himself.

"They're a bunch of ungrateful people. I've seen a lot of them in Shenyang. North Korean businessmen have no regard for credit. They can agree on a price today and then go back on their word tomorrow."

Old Qian said indignantly.

"Where have the villagers gone?"

Jiang Liuer was only fifteen years old and had no knowledge of border feuds.

"Where else could he go? He was killed, of course."

Old Qian was calm and composed, as if he was accustomed to the tragedy happening on the Yalu River.

Jiang Liuer is kind-hearted by nature and has not yet realized the seriousness of the situation.

"The queen is Korean, and the emperor treats Korea well. Why would the Koreans rebel?"

No one answered Jiang Liuer's doubts.

Taking a detour to Shenyang would require a lot of detours, but they had already walked a long way.

The three of them were in a state of panic when they heard the whistles of the Jurchens all around them.

A group of Qing cavalry rushed out from behind and cut off their retreat.

"Oh no, Tartar."

The three men looked at each other and clenched the short crossbows and short guns in their hands. At this time, dense horse hoof sounds came from all around, and dozens of Qing army cavalry came roaring and blocked the road into the city.

A horseman in armor, who looked like a baoyi, reined in his horse and hid behind his round shield, shouting:
"The Emperor of Qi is dead, and the Qi army inside the pass is completely destroyed. Where are you from? Surrender immediately!"

"Qing Dynasty? What is Qing Dynasty?"

When Lao Qian and his men set out from Shenyang, Du Du had not yet started his rebellion. There was not even a Great Jin, let alone a Great Qing.

Only a few days in the cave, but a thousand years in the world.

The world is changing too fast.

Yehe wizard Alessa looked confused.

But now is not the time to be dazed, the enemy is right in front of us.

A burly and strong Qing army Niulu Ezhen pushed aside the shouting bondservant and shouted:
"Caught alive!"

When Jiang Liuer saw that they were Tartar soldiers, he roared, rushed forward with his sword, and chopped at the Qing army's horses' hooves with the sword. Niulu Ezhen, who was riding on the horse, held a long spear in his hand and did not show any panic at all.

As the two sides met, there was a loud bang. Jiang Liuer's chest shook and he felt a sweet and fishy taste in his throat. His body was knocked five or six steps away by the long spear and fell heavily to the ground.

He struggled to stand up, with five or six weapons at his neck.

"Old Qian!"

A few steps away, Lao Qian and Alessa also fell to the ground, not knowing whether they were dead or alive.

Jiang Liuer only regretted that he had been so reckless just now, rushing to the front of the city without any investigation, and implicated his two companions.

I managed to escape from the dangers of Sakhalin Island, but I didn't expect to capsize in this ditch in the end.

The three men were tied up and dragged by horses towards Kuandian City.

Although everyone was wearing thick cotton jackets, when they were dragged to the gate of Kuandian City, their clothes were torn to pieces, revealing their bloody limbs.

Old Qian was in so much pain that he let out a series of terrible howls.

Jiang Liuer and Alessa said nothing.

Niulu Ezhen turned around and glared at the two of them, then dismounted, brandished his long sword, pressed it against Alessa's neck, and said viciously in Jurchen:
"If you are a Jurchen warrior, why are you helping Liu Zhaosun and the enemy?"

The psychic shaman raised his head, stared at the scar on Aobai's face, and recited the ancient ballad of Haixi Yehe.

"The enemy is in my heart,

It is the devil,

Rather than Changshengtian,
Dudu will lead you to hell,

A hell of eternal damnation."

Abahai seemed to be struck by the soul of the song, and his strong body like a bear on horseback shook slightly.

He was furious and waved his whip:

"You're still stubborn even when death is imminent. What's the Eternal Heaven? The Emperor of the Qing Dynasty is the Eternal Heaven!"

Uncle Alessa continued to stare into Oboi's eyes.

"The shaman said that if you are born as a human and don't suffer enough, it will be difficult to die. You will die a miserable death."

A nearby vest swung a mace at Alessa, and Aobai roared:
"Take him back to Shenyang and execute him by slow slicing. Let everyone know what the consequences are for betraying the Qing Dynasty!"

~~~~~~
The Qing army slowly passed through the corridor of Kuandian's north gate. Jiang Jiaren had been waiting to greet them for a long time. Seeing the Qi army being captured, he followed behind Aobai and said, "The general is indeed brave. With one move, he captured all the Qi bandits. With the Qing army in Kuandian, the bandits dare not dare to intrude..."

Aobai said coldly: "I didn't come to Kuandian today to defend the city for you. Liu Zhaosun's troops are still all around. You should guard the city carefully and don't let them get under your nose again!"

After saying this, Aobai walked towards the military preparation office, with more than ten armored horsemen following him, galloping away, leaving Jiang Jiaren alone in the messy world.

Hearing that the Qi army was nearby, the Koreans were frightened and quickly chased after them.

~~~~~
At the Kuandian Military Preparations Office, Jiang Liuer was tied up and thrown into a side room, with a team of white-armored soldiers standing outside.

Seeing that he had three more cellmates, Kang Guangxu was in a good mood and immediately began to introduce his biological father to the three of them.

"Help us untie the ropes and escape together."

Jiang Liuer shouted loudly to a young man who looked like a carpenter beside him.

The carpenter was absorbed in his craft, oblivious to the world around him.

"Stop shouting, he, there's something wrong here."

Kang Guangxu rolled his eyelids and turned his eyeballs to the top of his head, telling the three newcomers that this prisoner who had hands and feet but did not run away was a fool.

The carpenter said nothing and was concentrating on shaving wood, as if he wanted to use carpentry to fight against his miserable life.

Everyone lost interest in this taciturn carpenter fool.

Alessa continued to chant his shamanic spell, which basically said that Changshengtian would soon bring down punishment, and Oboi and his men would be devoured by wild beasts and burned to death by fire dragons... It was not known whether the spell would work.

Old Qian was very interested in Kang Guangxu. When he heard that this man was the son of Prime Minister Kang, he quickly came up to him with a charming smile on his face:
"You look so noble, but you're actually the son of Prime Minister Kang. My home is next to the Qing Palace west of Shenyang. My son is about the same age as you, and he's a good businessman. Last year, he got tuberculosis. I went to Master Zhang to ask for two talismans. I burned them into ashes and drank them with water, but they didn't help. The family had no money left and couldn't afford a doctor, so I decided to join the army. I went to Sakhalin Island and narrowly escaped death. I don't know how much salary I earned. One of the expeditionary officers ran away, and one was injured..."

Kang Guangxu became impatient and said:
"Stop talking! Wait until I get back to Shenyang and ask Dad to give you some money so I can hire a doctor. Then we can go get the blood-soaked buns from Qiao Yiqi (who oversees the execution of criminals). Qiao Yiqi kills people every day and has plenty of blood vessels. That stuff is best for treating tuberculosis. Your son, keep it safe."

"You have to help me escape!"

Hearing Kang Guangxu calling Minister Qiao by his real name, Old Qian couldn't help but feel even more in awe of the young man.

They are both fathers, but the other person's father is all-powerful and can get as many blood-stained buns as he wants. But in order to cure his son's illness, I, as a father, was almost captured by a Rakshasa demon and eaten as a bun.

It can be seen that this father is completely different from the father.

Just as Lao Qian was about to bite off the ropes on Kang Guangxu, there was a bang, and the door was knocked open from the outside. Aobai rushed in with a group of white-armored soldiers:
"Let's go! Let's get on the road!"

The five people were escorted out of the yamen and headed towards the north gate under the guard of a group of white-armored soldiers and bannermen. Five prison carts had been arranged in advance at the north gate, one for each person.

The prison van quickly drove out of Kuandian City and squeaked its way westward along the winding Yalu River.

Jiang Liuer looked at the destroyed villages along the river, and an unprecedented depression surged into his heart, making him feel even more uncomfortable than when he was on Sakhalin Island.

We walked until dark, but there was not a single living person in the abandoned village.

At the beginning, Kang Guangxu, as usual, talked heartlessly about his life of debauchery in Shenyang and Kuandian, for fear that others did not know how much money Kang Yingqian had spent on him over the years.

But when it was almost dark, everything was silent. From time to time, one or two starving corpses floated down from the Yalu River. The surroundings were filled with a gloomy and terrifying atmosphere. Kang Guangxu stopped talking.

The blood-red sunset fell on Aobai's sturdy back. He dismounted, came to the riverside, picked up a corpse that had floated to the shore with a long knife, turned the corpse over, facing the sky, and looking at the loose bun on the head, he knew it was a Han woman. The clothes on the woman's body were gone, and although it was late autumn, the corpse emitted a faint stench.

Aobai spat, turned around and smiled at the prisoners in the prison car:
"They were Han Chinese massacred by the Qing Emperor in Fushun. Our Zhenghuang Bannermen killed over 10,000 of them and dumped their bodies into the Yalu River. I didn't expect them to drift here now."

After saying this, Aobai glared at Jiang Liuer fiercely.

"Back then, the Kaiyuan soldiers massacred the city of Hetuala, and my entire family, including more than a dozen people, were killed by Nikan. This is retribution."

A ray of sunset shone on Baturu's face, turning the scar blood red.

"Bakyan, Jierjimu, take the men to chop wood, build a fire, and set up camp tonight! The dew is heavy by the river, so don't hurt the horses. We still need to keep them for Shenyang Nikan."

The two white-armored soldiers agreed, immediately drew their swords and axes, called three or five eunuchs, and walked towards the dense forest by the river.
Jiang Liu'er remained silent. When the Battle of Hetuala, which shook Liaodong, broke out, he was only ten years old and had no idea about it.

The remaining Baoyi Ah Ha and Zhen Yi were busy fetching water and cooking. Jiang Liuer had been exposed to the sun for half a day and was already thirsty and his lips were cracked. Seeing a tall and thin Baoyi carrying water passing by, he couldn't help but say:
"Water, water..."

When the thin man Baoyi heard Jiang Liuer's call, he hesitated for a moment, stopped, looked around, and saw that his master was barbecuing around the campfire by the river and no one noticed him. He secretly tilted the sheepskin bag in his hand and tilted the spout of the pot. The sweet river water gurgled out of the sheepskin bag and dripped onto Jiang Liuer's mouth.

Jiang Liuer lay on the ground, stuck his head out of the wooden fence, opened his mouth wide like a dog, and stretched out his tongue to suck greedily.

The skinny Baoyi grinned and whispered to him, "Don't choke. I'll get you a piece of rabbit meat later..."

Jiang Liuer stared blankly at the strange Baoyi. In the dim light, the top of Baoyi's head was shiny, and the head under the rat tail braid looked somewhat familiar.

Jiang Liuer thought about it for a long time, and suddenly remembered that this person was Uncle Wang Er, a neighbor in Shenyang.

"Second uncle, why are you a bondservant, working for the Tartars?"

Uncle Wang chuckled.

A dozen steps away, the sound of a bowstring vibrating was heard next to the campfire, and a large arrow flew straight towards the prison van. Jiang Liuer, who had experienced many battles, shrank back nervously.

Uncle Wang Er stood in front of the prison van for a long time without moving, and then his body fell down limply. The arrow pierced his chest, leaving only the arrow feather on his back.

"It's just a mouthful of food. The emperor is dead and no one cares about us..."

Jiang Liuer opened his eyes wide as a tiger roar came from the forest by the river.

Note:
1. Ancient people held a superstitious belief that human blood could cure tuberculosis. Chen Zangqi, in the Tang Dynasty, compiled a book called "Supplement to Materia Medica." It states that during executions, someone would ask the executioner for steamed buns soaked in human blood to cure the disease. Yuan Mei, in the Qing Dynasty, also recorded this in his book "Zi Bu Yu": "Yang broke his promise and wrote that steamed buns dipped in human blood could cure tuberculosis. So, he collected blood according to the method and gave it to his relative."

(End of this chapter)