The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 66 Enclosure Movement
Xiong Tingbi stayed in Kaiyuan for two days, then led a group of Jizhen troops south and returned to Shenyang.

Before leaving, he distributed 2,000 dan of grain and 5,000 taels of military pay to the Kaiyuan army in his capacity as the governor of Liaodong, encouraging Liu Zhaosun to be loyal to his country and to defend Kaiyuan for the court.

"Lieutenant General Liu, if you die in battle, I will be there soon. In the underworld, I will discuss with you the history of Ji Kang and Ruan Ji, and the ways of the Wei and Jin dynasties!"

Liu Zhaosun remembered that he had said similar words at the north gate of Kaiyuan that day, and as a result, all the white-pole soldiers were killed or wounded, and he felt horrified.

However, he knew that Xiong Tingbi was saying this to the generals in Jizhen.

As a guest army, they traveled thousands of miles to aid Liao, came to Kaiyuan, but were unable to enter the city to rob, and finally had to allocate food, fodder and military pay to Liu Zhaosun. This sounds very unpleasant.

Fortunately, the money and grain all came from the emperor's treasury, and Xiong Manzi was suppressing them, so Chai Guozhu and Li Huaixin suffered this loss.

~~~~~
Liu Zhaosun requested Xiong Tingbi to petition the court as soon as possible to appoint an official to Kaiyuan to take up the post. Now that the military governor, the censor, and the chief censor had all died for their country, it was impossible for him, a lieutenant general, to be in charge of the affairs of the entire city. He did not have the energy for it.

Xiong Tingbi nodded in agreement and told Liu Zhaosun not to have too much hope in the emperor.

The current emperor likes to ask his subjects to do extra work, and Xiong Tingbi cited the example of He Xiongxiang to Lieutenant General Liu.

Lord He now holds the positions of Minister of Justice, Minister of Revenue, Minister of Rites, and Minister of Personnel in Nanjing, all while receiving only one salary. He is considered a model worker of the Ming Dynasty. The Emperor was deeply moved and offered him many encouragements, asking Lord He to take care of his health.

Liu Zhaosun was speechless for a long time after listening.

In Shenyang, there were still many matters waiting for Xiong Tingbi to deal with. Li Rubai left the mess in Liaodong and died.

Liu Zhaosun withstood the attack of the Later Jin in Kaiyuan and severely damaged the Bordered Blue Banner, making the situation in Liaodong more complicated.

Faced with the rapid rise of the Kaiyuan Army in Liaodong, the fence-sitters between the Ming and Jin dynasties gradually began to waver and consider whether to continue to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

The group of guides, led by Ding Bi, are desperate and planning a larger rebellion. Xiong Tingbi is completely unaware of these changes and wants to rush to Shenyang as soon as possible to calm the people and rectify the military affairs in Liaozhen.

After sending Xiong Jinglüe away, Liu Zhaosun began to review the gains and losses of the past few days:

First, he and Xiong Tingbi became close friends regardless of age difference, and received the strong support of this big boss;
Secondly, this time he met the fierce general Man Gui, whose performance in the Ji Si Rebellion was remarkable, but unfortunately he died in an unclear manner in the end.

After the Battle of Sarhu, Man Gui was promoted very quickly. After Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned, Man Gui was promoted to Wu Jinglüe, in charge of the troops in Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan.

Man Gui had a full beard, and when Liu Zhaosun first saw him, he was reminded of the bearded guest from a Tang Dynasty legend. After spending a few days together, the relationship between the two had become extraordinary.

The only regret was that he had a feud with Jizhen. However, he and the soldiers in Jizhen had little in common, and they had different ideas and could not work together. Besides, although Liaodong was big, it could not accommodate two foreign armies.

The Intelligence Department sent scouts to investigate Jing'an Fort and reported that after the Bordered Blue Banner captured Jing'an Fort, they massacred all the soldiers and civilians in the fort, killing more than a thousand civilians. When retreating from the Battle of Kaiyuan, the Bordered Blue Banner held a grudge and set fire to the fort, burning all the houses to ashes.

This most important garrison in northern Liao was reduced to ruins, with only bare towers and city walls standing in the north.

Kaiyuan was short of troops and could not send any more soldiers to garrison Jing'an Fort, so it had to be handed over to the Later Jin.

After listening to Pei Dahu's report, Liu Zhaosun slowly closed his eyes. Thinking of the group of children chasing Cuju, who had now turned into cold corpses, he couldn't help but feel grief and anger, and clenched his fists.

"Amin, you bastard, I will cut you into pieces and torture you to death!"

Unfortunately, the Jiannu soldiers did not stay in Hetuala and wait for Liu Zhaosun to arrive. On the second day after Xiong Tingbi led his army to leave Kaiyuan, a team of white-armored soldiers appeared in the north of Kaiyuan City, scouting the city from afar. Liu Zhaosun sent white-pole soldiers to fight, and the Jiannu immediately withdrew and fled back to the north.

For several days thereafter, Jiannu scouts invaded the north gate one after another. Liu Zhaosun sent a cavalry battalion to drive them away and killed several of them. After that, there was no trace of Jiannu around Kaiyuan.

In early April of the 47th year of the Wanli reign, the grand Battle of Kaiyuan finally came to an end.

Liu Zhaosun, Yang Qing'er, and Jin Yuji moved to the General's Mansion in the east of the city, while Yang Hao and Mao Yuanyi lived in the Military Preparations Office in the north of the city.

After the Battle of Kaiyuan, the censor and the military governor had both died for their country, and many government offices were damaged. Liu Zhaosun sent people to repair them while waiting for help to arrive.

Military farming, trade, water conservancy, firearms, private schools...

All of these require professional talent to do. Liu Zhaosun and his men alone cannot do it even if they stay up for twelve hours a day.

However, time waits for no one. It is now early April and a drizzle has begun to fall on the Songliao Plain. The farming season in Liaodong is only in these few days, and the 60,000 acres of farmland that the lieutenant general has been thinking about is still a dream.

For several days, the military supervisor Lord Kang and the fat and kind-hearted commander of the garrison mingled together, going in and out of brothels and taverns in Kaiyuan together. Liu Zhaosun only gave Lord Kang funds for his activities and didn't care what the old man was doing mysteriously.

Liu Zhaosun rose early each day to inspect the military camps outside the city walls. With food and captured Later Jin military equipment, he recruited another 1,000 Liao civilians. After the Battle of Kaiyuan, the Liao civilians who had followed Liu Zhaosun were few and far between, with many dispersing until only around 2,000 remained. The lieutenant general planned to enroll these civilians as military households once the land issue was resolved, lest they become refugees.

The daily training of the combat soldiers was temporarily handed over to the two captains, and Liu Zhaosun concentrated on solving the land problem with Kang Yingqian.

Time quickly came to the third day of April. On this day, Liu Zhaosun came back from patrolling the camp at the north gate. As soon as he returned to the General's Mansion, Yang Qing'er had asked the maid to prepare meals.

Liu Zhaosun, Yang Qing'er, and Jin Yuji had a very light meal. Suddenly, he remembered the vegetarian meal he had eaten at Guiyuan Temple that day. It tasted the same way. Seeing the memory reminded him of the person, so he said to the two of them:

"After I finish my work these few days, I will go to the temple to fulfill my wish. Thanks to the food provided by the abbot these days, I don't know how many people in the city would have starved to death otherwise."

While the lieutenant general was busy, his wife, Yang Qing'er, was also busy. This imperially appointed woman took it upon herself to act as a good wife. For several days, she and her personal guards and maids set up large pots in the city's downtown area, boiling rice and porridge, which they distributed to the people of Kaesong whose homes had been destroyed by the war. When Liu Zhaosun learned of this, he discovered that the food donated by the old monk had been used up by Yang Qing'er, and he could not help but sigh that his wife was a good person.

"Sir, is the Buddha of the Ming Dynasty effective?"

Jin Yu Ji was quite interested in new things. Whenever she was with Liu Zhaosun, she would ask all kinds of questions. Only in front of Liu Zhaosun did she act like an innocent girl.

"We're not praying to Guanyin for a child. I'm here to do some serious business. How can you, a woman, go there?"

Yang Qing'er was very dissatisfied with this Korean woman. If she could not beat her, she would have kicked her out of the house long ago.

"So what if we're praying for a child together? I'm currently serving as a guard in the Central Army, but I was appointed by you, sir. Wherever you go, I'm going too. You have no right to interfere!"

The more Yang Qing'er looked at Jin Yu Ji, the more she felt something was wrong. This woman was cold and aloof in front of others, but she was naturally charming in front of her husband.

Hearing her say that they wanted to pray for a child together, Yang Qing'er immediately became furious. She ignored Liu Zhaosun's presence and threw her chopsticks at Jin Yuji, angrily saying:

"What kind of guard are you? I'm the imperial lady! A virtuous woman!"

Seeing that the virtuous Yang Qing'er was about to fight with Jin Yuji again, Liu Zhaosun hurriedly pulled the two apart and explained that his real purpose of going to Guiyuan Temple was to beg for alms from the old monk and to talk about Buddhism.

Yang Qing'er went back to her room in a huff, and Jin Yuji came forward and acted coquettishly. At this time, the guards at the door said that Lord Kang had arrived.

Liu Zhaosun quickly straightened his clothes and winked at Jin Yuji, who immediately regained her cool and beautiful self and looked coldly at Kang Yingqian who walked into the living room.

While Liu Zhaosun and Xiong Tingbi were discussing the strategy of pacifying Liao, Kang Yingqian was busy checking the land deeds.

While Liu Zhaosun was flirting with the two beauties, Kang Yingqian was busy building a relationship with the commander.

This down-to-earth and capable military inspector had already completed the inventory of land deeds and acreage in Kaiyuan, and his efficiency was still very high.

"Commander Liu, are you guys having dinner?"

Kang Yingqian looked at the chopsticks that fell to the ground, then at Liu Zhaosun's messy clothes, and said thoughtfully.

Jin Yuji glared at the old man fiercely. Kang Yinggan shuddered and stood up to leave.

"Then I will not bother you for now. We can discuss the land deeds another day."

Liu Zhaosun offered a pearwood armchair and motioned Kang Yingqian to sit down. Kang Yingqian did not hesitate to sit down and began to talk non-stop:
"Ah! These days, my legs are broken from walking, and my waist is broken from fatigue. The land in Kaiyuan, the private land, the official land, the vacant land, and the pasture land are all a mess, and it's hard to count them all."

Liu Zhaosun took the Longjing tea handed to him by Jin Yuji, took a sip, and gestured to bring a cup to Lord Kang as well.

"How can it be unclear? I remember when Zhang Juzheng organized a nationwide land survey, wasn't the measurement very clear?"

Liu Zhaosun didn't know much about Zhang Juzheng's reforms, but he remembered the land survey particularly well. It was said that before Zhang Juzheng's land survey (during the Jiajing and Wanli periods), the area of land that the Ming Dynasty paid taxes annually was only half of that during the Hongwu period of the early Ming Dynasty. It was unknown how much land did not pay taxes to the court, so the land survey was required.

Kang Yingqian took the tea from Jin Yuji with a smile on his face, fearing to anger the witch. Hearing this, he didn't have time to drink the tea, and looked at Liu Zhaosun as if he were a monster:
"Liu Cangjiang is truly a forgetful man. In the sixth year of the Wanli reign, land surveying was only implemented in the provincial administration offices, prefectures, states, and counties. Liaodong didn't have any counties, so of course there was no land surveying."

Liu Zhaosun realized that there was still a lot of knowledge in this era that he didn't know, especially in front of this old fox. It would be better for him to say less when talking about professional knowledge in the future.

"Master Kang, please tell me how things are going. Spring plowing is approaching, and we can't delay the farming season. We must start immediately!"

Kang Yingqian sipped his tea slowly, and after a while he smiled and said:
"I have good news and bad news. Lieutenant General Liu, which one do you want to hear first?"

(End of this chapter)