The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 6 Amin is coming
In the 23rd year of the Wanli reign, the Qi family army, which had just returned triumphantly from the battlefield of resisting Japanese invaders and aiding Korea, was slaughtered in the Jizhou military training ground. This is known in history as the Jizhou Mutiny.

After this incident, the southern soldiers lost their trust in the imperial court, and the southern and northern soldiers, who already had conflicts with each other, became even more incompatible.

According to the original historical dimension, in the subsequent battles of Sarhu and Hunhe, the Southern Liao soldiers hindered each other and were eventually defeated one by one by the Later Jin army.

Liu Zhaosun learned from the military supervisor Kang Yingqian that the 5,000 Zhejiang soldiers in the eastern army all came from Yiwu.

From the middle of the Jiajing period, the imperial court began to recruit southern soldiers in Yiwu to strangle the Japanese pirates and resist the Tatars.

At its peak, the number of southern troops stationed in Jizhen reached 30,000.

After decades of continuous conscription, Yiwu's military resources were on the verge of exhaustion. Only after the censor's earnest pleas did the court stop conscription.

The blame lies in the fact that General Nurhaci developed slowly in the early stage and did not provoke the Ming Dynasty until he suddenly exerted his strength last year and stunned the court.

The situation in Liaodong was deteriorating. Emperor Wanli was completely bewildered and unprepared. In a hurry, the bigwigs in the court remembered the Qi family army that had won many battles in the past, and the various factions reached a consensus:
Forced to recruit southern soldiers from Yiwu.

The 5,000 Zhejiang soldiers Kang Yingqian brought with him were certainly not as powerful as they once were, but they were still considered the remnants of the Qi family army. More importantly, these southern barbarians were brave and courageous, and were certainly more reliable than Li Chengliang's useless sons.

The training manual for this southern army was entirely based on Qi Shaobao's "Treatise on Military Training," and its commander was Qi Jin, Qi Shaobao's adopted son, who had died fighting for his country in the bloody Battle of Hunhe.

During this aid mission to Liao, Qi Jin reported that he was old and ill and could not come with the army, so he only sent generals such as Deng Qilong and Yuan Jianlong to lead the troops.

At the beginning of the You hour, the sky gradually darkened, and the Ming army camped in Shajianzi.

Guerrilla General Deng Qilong and sentry officer Yuan Jianlong set up camp and patrolled the night according to Qi Shaobao's drill instructions, leaving them dumbfounded at the sight of the 5,000 Korean vanguard soldiers who had hurried over nearby.

The Zhejiang soldiers sounded the horns and blew the trumpets, and the baggage soldiers went on stage and beat the drums. The powerful drum sounds echoed over the camp.

After three drumbeats, the camp extinguished its fireworks. Deng Qilong climbed onto the high platform and shouted to the troops below:

"Officers, listen up!"

Below the high platform, five thousand Zhejiang soldiers stood still as a mountain and responded in unison.

"Have!"

"Night patrol, be careful!"

Five thousand soldiers shouted in unison:

"promise!"

Deng Qilong shouted:
“Don’t be lazy!”

"promise!"

"Military law will not tolerate any mistakes!"

"Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!"

The sound was deafening. Not only the Korean soldiers, but also the soldiers from Huguang and Guizhou looked up at this familiar yet unfamiliar Ming army.

After the Zhejiang troops dispersed, they went about their business. Every hour, the baggage soldiers fired a cannon, blew a trumpet, and beat a drum.

Each chariot camp used chariot beams instead of drumsticks, and the soldiers took turns on night duty, beating the drum nine times every hour.

The cavalry of each camp used armor instead of drumsticks and took turns to stand guard, beating the drum nine times every hour.

After nightfall, the Zhejiang soldiers began to carry out night patrols, and a lantern was hung in each of the chariot camp and the horse camp as a signal.

The fire soldiers lit a bonfire every thirty steps five hundred steps away from the main camp. The blazing bonfires illuminated the surrounding river banks, so that the Ming army could see the Jiannu coming, but the Jiannu could not figure out the location of the main camp.

Liu Zhaosun knew that one of the reasons why Du Song's army was wiped out was that they lit a bonfire in the camp and became a sitting duck for the Jiannu.

That night, thirty miles northwest of Shajianzi Camp, the mountains were hushed and silent as the Ming army's Night Guards engaged in a small-scale scouting battle with the Later Jin's vanguard, the White Armored Soldiers. These Night Guards were Liu Jing's elite retainers, well-equipped and fearless. Their battle with the Jiannu White Armored Soldiers was fierce but brief. Both sides, elite and formidable, exchanged lives in a relentless battle in the vast jungle.

Under the cover of night, Liu Jing's central military tent was filled with singing and dancing, as if in another world.

Inside the big tent, it was as bright as day, with wine glasses clinking and tables piled high with fragrant wine and roasted wild boar meat.

The Ming Dynasty generals sat at different tables, one on each side of General Liu Jing.

"Junxin! I miss you so much, brother! It's been twenty years since we last met in Sulin (a place name in Korea). You went to Bozhou and fought against Yang Yinglong, killing many of them. In the past few years, the imperial court has been constantly using troops. I wanted to be like Su Dongpo, returning to my hometown to pick chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, but the old man wouldn't let me go! I often think of the days when we killed Japanese pirates in Pyongyang. We were happy, but let's not talk about the past. It's sad. In this desolate wilderness, there's nothing good to eat and drink..."

At the head of the tent, the dark-skinned General Liu raised his wine bowl and shouted at Jiang Hongli on his left.

Liu Zhaosun felt as if his adoptive father was possessed by a gangster, as if he were greeting a good brother who had once stood by him, deliberately making mistakes to show his martial artist's boldness and to appear close to Jiang Hongli. In fact, the two had only met once.

The warriors didn't care about the copyright of Tao Yuanming's poems at all. They just drank from big bowls.

Liu Zhaosun secretly admired Liu Jing's superb acting skills. He also picked up the wine glass, drank a sip of water, grinned and gritted his teeth, pretending to be a little drunk.

In this situation, the general of the Ming Dynasty called Jiang Hongli by his courtesy name, which was considered to give enough face to the Korean civil servant.

Before attending the banquet, the Korean generals were told that the enemy had been defeated by General Du, and the Eastern Army could rest assured. They were only supposed to get drunk today and were not allowed to mention the war.

Liu Jing's adopted sons poured wine to the Koreans one cup after another. After three rounds of drinking, all the generals were drunk and in a mess. Only one tall and burly Korean general with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes did not drink much and just sat alone.

Liu Zhaosun looked at Jin Yinghe. In the last battle of the Eastern Route Army, this fierce Korean general killed many bandits. It seemed that he did not get along well with Jiang Hongli and others. Such a person must be won over at all costs.

At this time, Jiang Hongli was drunk and his face was red. Perhaps he was moved by Liu Jing, so he stood up from the table, walked forward to hug Liu Jing, and slammed his head against the general's shoulder, performing the hugging ceremony like the Jianzhou Jurchens, which caused a commotion among the southern soldiers.

"The cavalry didn't listen to his Chinese, so the general tied him up as a vassal and exiled him to the low-lying and wet lands of the southeast. There's no way they'll be able to defend themselves. Hahahaha."

Jiang Hong stood on the drum, stepped on the rhythm, danced awkwardly, and howled poems.

The song "Binding the Barbarians" (1) left the warriors bewildered.

Kang Yingqian stroked his beautiful beard lightly, his eyes shining as he smiled slightly.
"Lord Jiang is well versed in the laws and regulations, and knows how to distinguish between Chinese and foreigners. This is truly commendable!"

"The Liao people today are just like the barbarian people in this poem. As far as I know, Li Rubai, Li Rumei and their group of Liaozhen soldiers... cough cough, let's not talk about them."

Kang Yingqian looked up at everyone in the tent, and seeing that the generals showed no disgust, he continued.

"The Liaozhen gang has been dealing with the slave bandits for years and has long lost the distinction between Chinese and foreigners. Rumor has it that the slave chief was once Li Chengliang's adopted son. I don't know if this is true or not. Unfortunately, the Liaozhen is unreliable, and Li Rubai can only watch from the sidelines."

He paused here and raised his voice deliberately:

"Fortunately, General Du has defeated the bandits, so we can now feast and have fun in this big tent."

The generals in the tent were all confused. Although they did not understand the hidden meaning of Fu Rongsheng's words, nor did they understand the distinction between Chinese and barbarians, when they heard that he was cursing the Liao soldiers in the end, these southern generals all nodded in agreement.

Liu Tianxing, who was sitting next to him, looked at the North Korean general opposite with contempt, said nothing, and drank one glass of wine after another.

Military Supervisor Kang Yinggan whispered to him from time to time. Liu Tianxing's face became more and more ugly, and his eyes were staring at the complacent Jiang Hongli.

"Shengwu, back in Pyongyang, you and I fought side by side, annihilating the Japanese pirates without a single survivor, ridding the Ming and Korea of this great threat. I have the greatest respect for Zhang Zai and Wang Yangming. Shengwu governs the country and manages his family, and I command a wealth of talented generals. The Ming and the people are fortunate to have Shengwu here!"

Liu Jing, whose courtesy name was Shengwu, was a military general in the late Ming Dynasty who liked to show off his literary talent and give himself a strange courtesy name. Liu Jing was no exception.

It is hard to imagine what connection this fierce general, who slashed and killed fiercely in the enemy camp with a 120-jin machete, had with the three-year self-examination of Confucius' disciples.

The two of them exchanged a few business exclamations. Jiang Hong was thinking about inviting Meiji to come into the tent to sing and dance to entertain the party, while Liu Jing had already started introducing several of his adopted sons.

When Liu Zhaosun was introduced, Liu Jing slowed down his speech, raised his glass, and said solemnly:

"My son Liu Zhaosun, you captured a traitorous spy today. He seems to be a white-armored soldier of the traitor Amin. You have performed a great deed!"

When Liu Jing talked about the Jiannu spies, he noticed a slight change in Jiang Hongli's facial expression.

Jiang Hongli hurriedly congratulated Liu Jing, turned around and bowed to Liu Zhaosun, his eyes rolling around, not knowing what he was thinking.

"General Liu is a young hero, worthy of being a descendant of a military family. Given time, he will surely become a great man in the future! I will toast you a glass."

Liu Zhaosun raised his glass, staring intently at the drunken Coach Jiang, his expression changing:
"Commander Jiang, don't you want to know what we found on the Jiannu spies?"

Before Liu Zhaosun finished speaking, the atmosphere in the tent suddenly changed. Even the Korean deputy general Jin Yinghe, who had been silent and had a sad face, looked over here, realizing that something big was about to happen.

Outside the big tent, Liu Jing's elite servants were just waiting for the order to rush in and kill people, when they suddenly heard a scout outside reporting something.

"General, the thief, Second Prince Amin, has led his troops to the main camp and is now camping thirty miles northwest!"

~~~~~~~~
(1) "Bound the Barbarians": Bai Juyi's Yuefu poem tells the tragic story of a Han Chinese who fled the Tibetan-occupied Longyou region back to the Tang Dynasty, only to be mistaken for a Tibetan and unjustly exiled. It reflects the interpenetration and influence of numerous imperial frontier regions, and contributes to a deeper understanding of Liaodong in the late Ming Dynasty.

The following is an excerpt from the poem:

They bound the Rong people, bound them, their ears pierced, their faces torn, and drove them into Qin. The emperor, feeling sorry for them and unable to bear their deaths, decreed the exile of Wu and Yue in the southeast. A yellow-robed emissary recorded their names and led them out of Chang'an by courier. Their bodies were covered in wounds, their faces emaciated, and they traveled a sickly distance, one post station a day. One of the captives said to the others, "Your suffering is far greater than mine!" A fellow traveler asked, wanting to express the rage boiling in his throat. He claimed his hometown was Liangyuan, but fell into decline among the Tibetans during the Dali era. He remained among the Tibetans for forty years, sent to wear fur coats and fur belts. Only he was allowed to wear Han ceremonial attire, tucking himself in, straightening his clothes and scarf, tears streaming down his face. He vowed to secretly plan his return home, never letting his wife and children know. He was fortunate to have some strength left, but feared his old age would prevent him from returning. The cavalry, unable to speak Chinese, were forced to surrender, so the general abducted him and made him a Tibetan. He was exiled to the lowlands of the southeast, where there would surely be no one to defend him... Such an injustice has never been seen before: a Han heart, a Tibetan body.

(End of this chapter)